Floating
by Olive.branch3
Summary: Ava is spending some time with her uncle in Charming. She thought it would be all fun and games. Meeting Abel Teller changed her world as she began experiencing his. And then something happened. One night threatened it all. Enjoy & please Review Thanks
1. Chapter 1

Walking out as the bell rang, Ava Blair walked out of school digging her blue Samsung Impression out of her black skinny jeans to call her uncle, Luke Morgan. "Could it be any hotter out here?" Ava thought to herself pulling her long black and curly hair up in a ponytail as she stared out and wondered where her uncle's white pick-up truck was.

Ava was spending her junior year with her uncle in Charming. She loved spending time with Luke and her parents told her she could spend the summer with him after sophomore year, and then the summer ran into junior year. When her uncle convinced her parents that she should stay the school year, she was freaking thrilled!

Ava's parents were okay and all, but they were so straight and narrow. Ava wanted to experience life and ride her own road. Luke did that when he was her age, which is why she loves spending so much time with him. There were times she loved her uncle more than her own mother. He understood her need for space. Besides, when she turned 18, she wanted to move in with her uncle anyways. It was better than living under her parents roof and their constant need to "have an open line of communication." Too bad, she had to wait an entire year since her birthday is August 1st.

"Luke, where are you?" Ava mumbled to herself. She'd walk home, it wasn't far but it was 98 degrees in August, and she didn't want to run into the Sons again, or at least the Sons at her school, okay mainly Abel Teller. His sister, Maddie is great. Ava has biology with her. She's nice, quiet but pretty cool.

"Ava!!" Her uncle called, pulling her out of her thoughts. Walking to the truck, she jumped in saying hey to Luke and staring at the new tattoo of a wheel with a naked girl sitting on it on his forearm.

"That's so disgusting, Unc." Ava said laughing.

"Hey! This is a piece of art." Luke said pulling out of the school.

"Okay, whatever you say." Ava said looking out her window to see Abel walking up to his mom's black Oldsmobile Cutless.

"Hey, I was up at the garage picking some shit up and Opie wanted me to invite you to go up to the hills for the bonfire his kids are having friday night." Ava first met Opie through his wife, Donna at the Clifton Market she works at after school. He reminded her so much of Luke.

"I don't know. I'll see." Ava said thinking about the last time she went to a Winston bonfire and the first time she ever spoke a word to Abel. When it came to that night in late June, Ava spoke of it to no one, and even now, in the car, thanking God that Abel couldn't remember any of it.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ava's P.O.V._

Working at Clifton Market while her thoughts were everywhere but work was not Ava's idea of a fun time, but then again, it's a paycheck. While in the midst of doing inventory, Ava

sees a bike pull up at the store, Abel's bike.

As Abel starts walking up to the store, she thinks about how much she wants to go up to him and say something, anything but then that night in June comes back to her, she can't do anything. Her hands are tied...

"Ava!" Abel comes in with his impossible to ignore grin.

"Hey..What can I get you?"

Ava asks trying really hard not to look at his face. His face was always what drew her to him. Not many people knew this, but it wasn't hard to figure Abel out, all one had to do was

watch him and how he acts. He was young, but the silent type and a strategist. Whenever something happened around town, Abel was more than likely involved and from what Ava

hears, Abel's old man, Jax, was the same way when he was 18.

"U can come to the bonfire with me." Abel says taking his sweet time looking her over. He's been doing that a lot lately. She'll catch him just staring at her from a distance or finding opportunities to touch her on the arm or back when they pass by each other at school.

"I don't know if I'm going yet, and it wouldn't be with you if I was." Ava says thinking that spending time with him would not be the smartest thing to do as she turns around to the filing

cabinets to store some receipts.

"What the hell is with you? You've been avoiding me since that night in June." Abel says starting to yell and braces his hands against the counter.

"Stop yelling. You're gonna get me fired! Would you just go?" Ava says playing with her green-colored braided bracelet while avoiding looking into those brown-green eyes of his.

"We're gonna talk this shit through, babe, and soon." Abel says. "You were pretty interested the last time we had the bonfire."

"Things change" Ava says inwardly wincing at how weak her voice sounded.

"Yeah, we'll see." Abel says picking up a snickers, and dropping money on the counter. "Keep the change, Ava."

Ava goes to ring the money up and reminds herself to talk to Maddie about getting Abel to keep his distance.

* * *

_Abel's P.O.V_

Abel Teller is his son's son, through and through. He's Incredibly loyal and protective of his family, and at times, can be the jackass one wants to shove in a ditch in the middle of

the desert with no cactus in sight. Around Charming, you can always find him with Trevor Winston, son of Opie Winston. Many suspect these two were the master-minds behind a lot of

shit that goes wrong. At last year's carnival, an old lady that was about to expire any day started talking about how Maddie's shorts were too short, basically calling her a whore-in-

training. When the carnival was ending, the old lady went back to her car, and found lubricant all over her windshield and a condom hanging on her antenna. Funny part was the condom

was filled with white cream. The old hag screamed until she was horse and had to take a water-break. The cream was a aging-prevention cream. Nobody could prove who it was, of

course, but people had their suspicions.

Abel left Ava's work wondering what was up with her. She wasn't like the other girls in Charming, the ones who stuck around for popularity shit. With Ava, what you saw was what

you got. There were no pretensions, and Abel knew she was into him, but ever since that night in June, she's been avoiding him. The bonfire was a sudden thing, it was just something

to do. Abel asked Ava to go with him because she was new but also cause there was something about her that just pulled him in. Abel was driving down to the garage on his way to see

Trevor. Abel drank that night in the hills, but Trevor didn't because he had to drive them both home. Abel didn't remember drinking so much, but aside from driving down with Ava and

Trevor, he couldn't remember shit. Abel had a feeling that whatever the reason Ava was pushing away was whatever he couldn't remember from last night.

* * *

Hey, everyone!! I just want to thank the people who've reviewed. You guys are great :) Just to clear things up a bit, in my tory, Donna is alive. I hated the fact that she died so I kept her alive in _Floating. _Also, Abel's sister is Maddie and Madelyn is her full name. Again, thanks everyone for taking the time to give feedback. It is appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Before you start reading, I just wanted to say that Trevor has a sister called Zoey and I'm introducing her in here. Also, Ava's best friend Maxie is gonna be a more common character as

the story goes on. :) BTW, thanks everyone for reviewing. I've taken the suggestions that some have posted and tried to make the changes. :D

* * *

**Abel's P.O.V.**

When Abel got to Trevor's house, he heard music playing in the back garage.

"Yo, Trevor!" Abel called out coming through the fence into the backyard. He saw Trevor fixing his '65 mustang that he recently got from a biker called Kale that drove into town from San

Diego a few weeks ago for business with the club.

"What's up, man?" Trevor said working on the engine. Trevor is 21 and heavily involved in club activities. In fact, he handled the business that Kale brought to the club. It was a new guns

operation. The only problem was Garrett Jones. Jones is a guy who got out of the joint a few months ago and wants in on the gun deal, but he's an unstable, stupid prick that Clay wants

nothing to do with.

"Just saw Ava." Abel says handing Trevor the wrench.

"Ava! Man, you need to figure that shit out with her. You need to ask her about that chick, Maxie, that came to the bond-fire with her. Maxie was the craziest fucking girl I've ever met."

Trevor says running his hand through his spiked, red hair.

"You still stuck on that girl?" Abel says laughing.

"Just like you still stuck on Ava. I thought for sure that was the night for the two of you, but then that shithead, Garrett showed up-" Abel cut Trevor off.

"Garrett showed up?" Abel says wondering why the hell Garrett would show up at the hills.

"Yeah, man, I didn't know who he was till he showed up at the bar asking to see Clay." Trevor says handing him a beer. "He showed up and if I remember correctly, he was talking to Ava

and Maxie when I looked over to where they were standing. A few hours later, the girls said they wanted to leave."

"What the hell for? He never even meet the girls. Maxie doesn't even live in town" Abel says starting to wonder if Garrett did something to Ava that night.

"You really can't remember, can you?" Trevor says in all seriousness.

"No, that bottle of vodka did me in. Ava started shutting down on me after that night. Do you think Garrett tried to pull something?" Abel says starting to get pissed.

"Garrett knows you're Jax's son." Trevor says starting to wonder himself if Garrett did something that night."You need to talk to Ava."

"I tried, but she won't talk to me." Abel says trying to think if he has Maxie's number so he can call and ask her to talk to him about what the hell happened that night.

"I have Maxie's number. I can ask her about it." Trevor says closing the hood.

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. Thanks, man." Abel says hitting his beer against Trevor's showing his thanks.

"We'll figure this out, man." Trevor says takin a sip of his beer.

* * *

**Trevor's Pov**

As the Winston family sits to have dinner, Trevor's mind keeps drifting to this situation with Ava and Jax. Hoping he'll get some information from Maxie when he calls later, he wonders if

it'll be a good idea to let his dad in on this. Looking around the table at his parents, and his sister, Zoey, he hopes this shit with Garrett won't escalate.

"Trevor!" Donna calls his name for the second time. "Where are you tonight?' She asks laughing.

"Sorry, ma. Just got something on my mind." he responds digging into his food.

"Everything all right?" Opie asks him passing the bread to Zoey.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about." Trevor says. "I gotta see Abel later tonight though so don't freak out if I don't come home, ma." He says laughing.

"Ha, Ha" Donna says taking a sip of her beer.

Later on, as he gets off the phone with Maxie, he realizes that his suspicians about Garrett were right Garrett did do something. Now all Trevor's gotta figure out is how to tell Abel and

the rest of the club. Thinking about Maxie, he didn't know what this means for the two of them. He wonders what will happen if he makes a move. Will she be able to handle the

club? He's never been in an exclusive relationship. He neve saw any fun in it, but after meeting Maxie, he wouldn't mind trying.

Maxie and Ava have been best friends since Kindergarden. They did everything together and still see each other weekly even though they live in seperate towns. Trevor can't figure out

how he missed her everytime she's come to Charming. She's crazy and he knows she'll drive him crazy, but his hard-on is a constant reminder for the blue-eyed brunette that gave him

the biggest hard-on of his life at the hills.


	4. Chapter 4

In coming home from school the next day, Ava wonders why Abel wasn't in school. Maxie told her that Trevor came over last night having something important to tell Abel.

"Ava!" Abel yells her name coming up next to her in his dad's truck.

"Abel, what are you doing? Why didn't you come to school?" She asks him cautiously.

"Come with me somewhere. I want to tell you something." Abel says pulling over to the sidewalk. He walks out and goes over to her, taking her arm and helping her up in the truck.

"Where are we going, Abel? Considering last time we talked, I'm not sure we should be alone together." Ava says turning to face him and placing her palm flat over his chest.

"I know, but this is important. I talked to Trevor and there's something we need to talk about." Helping her into the truck, he shuts the door and gets in starting to drive."Is Luke expecting you home?"

"Um, yeah, he is, but I can call him and tell him I'll be home later." Ava says getting nervous about what Abel's gonna say.

"Call him." Abel says driving past his street. Ava notices that he's got a tank full of gas and a sheet of paper with directions on the dashboard.

"NO! Not until you tell me where the hell you're taking me. And what the hell are the directions for?" she demands putting

her hand on his arm. He in turn, takes her hand and intertwines their hands together. His eyes look like there's a storm

brewing inside of him. He's pissed off. "Abel, what's going on?"

"Trust me on this. You won't get hurt. I promise, Ava." He says stopping at a stop sign and pulling her close to him. Ava

knows he's going to kiss her, but she can't seem to pull away. She doesn't want to pull away. His lips touch hers lightly,

like a breeze. Seconds pass, and the kiss deepens. His tongue brushes against her lower lip, but she denies him entrance.

He whispers to her, calling her a tease. Then her own tongue seeks entrance, and as they clash together, both know

they're past the point of no return. As Abel takes control of the kiss, he stakes his claim, a claim Ava wonders if she'll ever

be able to live without it.

_Few hours later...._

As Abel drives up to a cabin, Ava looks out and wonders how he found keeps looking at it, wondering why

they're here at a deserted cabin in the middle of nowhere.

"Come on. It's not the White House, babe." He laughs putting his arm around her shoulders. "It belongs to Old Piney. He let me use it."

"We could have talked at my house, or yours. Shit, we could've talked on the street." she responds walking through the door and sees the cabin. Its got a long, antique living room table with matching chairs, but the rest of the room is bare."We're spending the night here?"

"Yeah." Abel says taking his black hoodie off.

"There better be two beds or a couch stashed somewhere." She says looking around into the other rooms.

"Nope, only one bed." He responds.

"Really? Well, I guess you're shit out of luck because I'm not sleeping on the floor and you're not sleeping in the bed with me." Ava says starting to feel her face heat up."

"Don't worry about the sleeping situations. We're gonna sleep together on that bed in there together, and I'll be a

gentleman. I'll sleep on the covers." Abel laughs pointing to the bedroom at the back of the cabin and walks up to her

kissing her on the forehead.

"How thoughtful of you!" She responds sarcastically and pinches him in the arm. A few moments pass and the silence

starts to become uncomfortable.

"Trevor talked to Maxie last night." Abel spurts out randomly, turning a chair around and sitting in it.

"Why?" Ava asks knowing that Trevor and Maxie started talking the night of the bon-fire. Oh, Shit! She thinks to herself,

catching onto why they're here. Abel knows about Garrett.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Abel asks quietly tapping his fingers on the table. "Did you not trust me enough?"

"No, it wasn't about that. If I told you that-" he cuts her off.

"That what, Ava? That that piece of shit Garrett showed up and came up behind you with a needle filled with God knows

what, and before injecting it into you, threatened to rape you and do it all over again if you got involved with me." Abel

says letting his rage loose.

"It happened so fast. I didn't know what to do. I was scared of what was in the needle, so I got Maxie and we went to a

private clinic outside of Charming and I got a blood test done. I didn't start feeling the effects until the next day." Ava says

pacing in front of him trying to keep calm.

"What was in the needle?" Abel says standing up in front of over her.

Ava can feel the tears coming, "Rohypnol mixed with coke. The feeling was so disorienting. I couldn't tell which was up." She tells him.

"A fucking date rape-drug. That son of a bitch! Did he try to talk to you since?" Abel says running his fingers through his hair.

"He comes up to the store. He brings it up sometimes... Abel, Have you told anyone?" She asks hesitantly putting her hand once again on his chest.

"You mean, my family? Right now, it's only me and Trevor that know, but I gotta tell them. He won't get away with this, Ava." He tells her rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

"Know that I wanted to tell you so many times, but I couldn't and not because I was afraid because of him. I was scared

for you and what you would do. I don't want you losing your life because of me." Ava says reaching up to kiss him on the

neck softly and running her hands up his back.

"Don't ever worry about me, girl." Abel says running his fingers under her shirt, touching the bare skin above her jeans.

"You're too reckless. You're not invincible, you know." Ava tells him feeling more in control of her life now that she's told

Abel. "Are we really spending the night here?"

"Yeah, we can spend the weekend here if you want too." Abel says with a grin, putting the suggestion out there knowing

he wants to spend as much time with her as possible.

"No! My uncle will freak out. Besides, you're still sleeping on top of the covers, AND all of your clothes will be on." Ava says

feeling his hard-on as she leans into him.

"Come on. I'll set things up and you call Luke." He says giving her a light slap on the ass.

"Hey! I'm gonna kick your ass one day, Teller." She tells him going into the kitchen to call her uncle.

"In your dreams, babe." Abel says laughing as he catches her red jacket she threw at him.

* * *

N/A: Okay, here's another one. Just wanna say that I did change Harry's name to Trevor b/c I wanted to use the name

Trevor instead. Hope it doesn't confuse any of you guys. :) Btw thanks again for all the reviews!


	5. Chapter 5

Ava woke up early the next morning and found herself wrapped up in Abel. Her head was on his left arm while his other arm was wrapped around her waist. His legs were inter-wined with hers and his

head lay near her neck. She can't say she's not worried about the situation with Garrett, but in this moment, it's just her and Abel. Deciding to go to bed for a little while longer, she wraps herself around Abel and

drifts off.

Some time later, Ava feels soft lips on her neck waking her up. Abel comes above her and shows off his boyish-grin.

"Morning, babe." He tells her kissing her on the lips hard and heavy.

"Morning." Ava laughs back. "What time is it?"

"Eleven. You're so beautiful in the morning." He says to her running his hands through her hair.

"We need to go back home. We can't avoid this any longer. I know that now." Ava says putting her hand around his arm.

"I meant what I said. Don't worry about this. The club and I will deal with this." Abel tells her one last time before he kisses her. They got out of bed around 1, after a lengthy make-out session. Ava's feelings for

him began to solidify and fall in place. She hopes that how they are now will survive what's about to come.

_Later that night,_

"I'll come pick you up in the morning." Abel tells Ava dropping her off at Luke's.

"Sure. Whatever you're about to do, be careful, ok? For me?" Ava asks him while hugging him to her.

"I will." He tells her seriously as he kisses her goodbye.

When Abel gets home, he takes his dad and they go to talk in the garage. After telling Jax what happened, Jax was pissed. He told Abel that he would call an emergency meeting in the morning, and they would

take care of this Garrett-fucker once and for all. Abel had one request: he deals with Garrett after the club gets their hands on him.

In the morning, Jax and Abel get to the clubhouse and sit down. As the club decides on what to do with Garrett, Clay looks to Abel and tells him that what he is planning to do is not easy shit.

"This shit gets messy, but it is necessary." Clay tells Abel with all seriousness.

"I'm doing this. I want him dead." Abel says coldly.

"All right. Everyone has any objections?" Clay asks taking a vote. "All agreed. Juice, I want you to get me a file on everything there is to know about Garrett there is to know, especially where he is now. Tig and

Opie, you two go to his house and see what you can find. Jax and Abel, stick around for a while." As everyone starts to leave, Clay goes up to Abel and asks him why Garrett would want to go after Ava.

"It doesn't add up. Almost like he's got another agenda. You and Ava weren't together then."

"I've been trying to figure it out. I don't know why he would target Ava. Maybe she was easy access to us." Abel says getting frustrated and just wanting to pound the shit out of Garrett.

"We'll find out why when we have out hands on him." Jax says putting his hand on Abel's shoulder trying to calm him down.

"Yeah, I gotta go get Ava. I'll be back after." Abel says turning to leave.

"Abel, if you see Garrett before we get him, don't do anything stupid. We'll make him wish he never laid eyes on your girl. Don't lose your temper, kid. I mean it, kid. That's an order!" Clay yells out to him.

"Yeah." Abel replies knowing full-well he probably will do something. Something to kill him.

* * *

"Come on, don't be shy." Abel tells Ava giving her a quick kiss.

"You know, I've never meet your parents. What if they don't like us being together? Ava asks him cautiously.

"They'll love you. Is this always what girls think about when they meet the parents?" He asks her jokingly as his hand drifts down her back and stops at the top of her jean skirt.

"Haha." She tells him sarcastically. " You gotta tell me. Abel, what happened at the clubhouse?" Ava asks playing with his hand.

"Garrett won't bother you anymore. It's being taken care of." Abel gives her one last kiss. "You're mine now, means you're safe. Under our protection."

"Oh, really?" Ava says laughing.

"Yeah, it's a club thing." He tells her.

"Sure, boys and their clubs." Ava responds getting out of the truck.

Walking through the front door, Abel calls out for his parents. His mom walks into the living room

"Hi guys. Jax is at the garage." Tara walks in dressed in blue jeans and a red laced tank-top.

"Ma, this is Ava. Ava, my mom, Tara." Abel introduces them to each other and hopes this meeting goes a lot better than his dad and Tara's meeting with

Gemma. As the day went on, Tara commented to Abel that Ava's a great girl, no push-over, which is exactly the kind of girl he needs.

"Hey, I'm gonna go meet dad at the garage. I'll be back in a little bit. You'll be ok here with my mom?" Abel asks Ava wrapping his hands around her waist.

"Yeah, of course. Your mom's great, kinda reminds me of Gemma, but she's cool." Ava tells him remembering of the time when she met Gemma at work.

* * *

On the way to the garage, Abel sights Garrett coming out of the corner-market. Deciding to follow him, they end up at his motel.

"Yo Jones!" Abel calls out to him getting his attention.

"Well, if it isn't Abel Teller!" Garrett says sounding very smug. "What can I do for you?"

"You can fucking die!" Abel tells him punching him straight in the face. As Garrett starts to get over the first hit, Abel hits him again, and again. He doesn't stop.

"You piece of shit! Going after Ava is the last think you will ever do." Abel tells him spitting on him and then continuing to hit and kick him.

Abel feels someone pulling him away. Not done with Garrett, he breaks free from the hold to hit him in the jaw one last time before he's pulled off of him.

"Wow! Enough, Abel. You got him, boy. Shit, you got him good." Opie says holding onto him. "You got him. Calm down. We can't kill him yet!"

"Why the fuck not?" Abel says wanting to beat him to his grave.

"We need some answers." Tig says coming up to him. "He'll die, Abel, but it can't be here where anyone can see." Tig tells him giving him a pat on the shoulder as he hears Garrett grown from the ground.

"Hello, asshole!" Tig says to Garrett looking at all the blood on his face. "He got your ass good, didn't he? Don't worry, though. There's more to come." Tig says while he injects a sedative into his arm and he and

Opie pick him up and stash him in the back of the van while Abel looks on trying to leash in his anger.

"All right, kid. You gotta get home." Tig tells him.

"Bullshit. I'm going." Abel tells Tig.

"Abel, Jax will get you when everything's ready. Your mom wants you home before this shit goes down. Go home, spend some time with your girl. Trust me, you'll finish what you started here." Opie tells him.

"Yeah, all right. I'll see you guys later." Abel says walking back to the truck.

"That boy's got a shitload of Jax in him." Tig says randomly.

"Yeah, no kidding, huh?"Opie laughs getting in the van.


	6. Chapter 6

He, everyone. I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update. I will be updating more frequently again. Here's the next chapter and thanks everyone for sticking with me :)

* * *

While Abel is gone, Ava and Tara get to know each other. The one thing Tara keeps bringing up is Abel's involvement with the club. Tara knows how much power Ava holds over Abel and

she knows how much damage Ava can do to her son if she decides she can handle all the shit that comes along with this lifestyle now, and then later realizes she can't handle it.

"What are you getting at, Tara?" Ava asks her when she brought up Abel being a prospect in the club.

"What kind of life do you imagine having with Abel?" Tara asks her flat-out. "Because it won't be one you'll find in a fairytale book."

"I love him." Ava says simply.

"It will take more than love to make this work, honey." Tara tells her getting up to get a drink.

"Take the advice Gemma gave me. Let him tell you everything. Complete disclosure or this will never work out." She tells Ava honestly and gets up to check on dinner.

Ava is sitting on the couch playing tapping her fingers on the couch thinking about where she and Abel stand. When he graduates this year, what will happen to them? Ava pulls her head

away from the path of the future and gets up to get another beer.

As midnight rolls, Jax and Abel still hadn't come home. Tara and Ava are sitting in the living room watching reruns of ER. Ava is spread out on the couch with her leg dangling off and her

shoes on the floor. The door opened with a bang.

"Tara, we're back!" Jax hollers coming in and kissing Tara not noticing Ava on the couch. Abel follows in.

"Dad, knock it off!" Abel laughs seeing Ava still here. "You stayed." He tells her.

"Hi." Ava says sitting up avoiding looking at Jax.

"Sorry, Ava. I got a little distracted by my wife." Jax laughs and asks if there's dinner left.

"Yeah, in the oven." Tara tells him. "How'd everything go?" Tara asks wanting to know about the Garrett situation.

"It's almost over with. We got it handled, ma." Abel says taking Ava's hand and pulling her off the couch.

"We'll see you guys in the morning." Abel says walking upstairs with Ava in tow.

"I don't want to hear any noises in the middle of the night, you guys!" Tara tells them.

"You know, babe. If I remember correctly, we made a lot of noise when we were their age." Jax tells her laughing while putting his hands on her hips.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Ava whispers to Abel quietly as they make their way into his bedroom.

"Don't worry about it. Just focus on us right now." Abel tells her pulling her into him and kissing his way down to her neck.

"Hey." Ava tells him giggling. "Wait." She says trying to unravel herself from him. "What about Garrett?"

"We got him. It'll be over real soon." Abel tells her thinking about how much fun he'll have turning Garrett into a distant fucking problem.

"You're incredible." Ava whispers to him biting on his neck in turn. She starts walking forward in front of Abel and leading both of them to the bed. Landing on the bed, Ava straddles him

and takes off her tank-top leaving her only in her champagne-laced bra and black jeans. She starts grinding on top of him and runs her fingertips down his chest to his belt. As she takes

his jeans off, she whispers in his ear that she loves him.

Abel takes initiative and flips them over, getting her out of her jeans leaving her only in her bra and thong.

As the night went on, Ava realized that with every kiss, every thrust, and every blood-boiling explosion, Abel is her future. The Sons are her future.


	7. Chapter 7

Here's another one. :) If there are any suggestions, they would be really appreciated. Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

With Ava feeling more confident in where she and Abel stand, she goes home to Luke and sees her mother's car in the driveway.

"Oh, come on. Why is it she comes around when I'm happy?" Ava mumbles to herself walking in. She sees her mother sitting at the dinner table with Luke and she's telling him something

but he's not hearing her, which is 9 out of 10 how it always is between the two of them.

"I'm home." Ava says dropping her stuff by the door.

"Hi, honey." Her mom, Claire, comes up and gives her a hug.

"I thought you were coming to Charming next month." Ava tells her going to sit by Luke.

"Oh, I know. I just couldn't wait. I heard you spent the night at Abel's." Claire tells her probing for information.

"No, mom. I spent the night at Abel and Maddie's. Maddie's a really close friend." Ava tells her thinking her mom doesn't need to know shit about her and Abel.

"You slept in separate bedrooms, though, didn't you?" Claire asks.

"Of course, mom." Ava says rolling her eyes hoping her mom would leave already and knowing that lying was the only way to get her mom off her back.

"I met a nice man back home, Ava. His name is Garrett Jones. I asked him to come here to Charming and try to help you through this phrase you're going though." Claire says reaching out

to take Ava's hand.

"What the hell did you just say?" Ava responds pulling her hand away.

"Claire, who the hell is Garrett Jones?" Luke asks demanding to know what kind of game she's playing. "And what the fuck were you thinking sending a stranger here to Charming to help

Ava? There's nothing wrong with Ava! How long have you known this man?"

"A little over a year. Don't worry, Luke. He's very kind and I was hoping he could be sort of a mentor for my , our relationship has been strained lately and I thought an outside source

would help us communicate again." Claire says looking from Luke to Ava.

"He's here in Charming because of you, mom?" Ava says starting to panic. How could her mother be so stupid? The man is a sick pervert.

"Yes. He was very interested in starting up a business here in Charming and I thought he could help guide you while he's here." Claire tells Ava not realizing the monster she unleashed in

Charming.

"Um, I need to get out of here." Ava says getting her keys.

"No! Ava, I am your mother and we will figure this out. You can't keep shutting me out. Either we figure it out here or you go back home with me, tonight and you won't be coming back to

Charming." Claire threatens standing up from the table.

Ava hears her mother's threat and walks out anyway, still in shock about her mother sending Garrett to Charming. As she gets into the car, she hears her uncle and her mother still

fighting inside. Ava drives away and keeps driving until she sees the sign that tells her she's leaving Charming.

* * *

Abel is hanging out with Trevor at the garage. Both of them are laughing their asses off as they see Gemma throw a wrench at Clay.

"What's up with them now?" Trevor leans over asking.

"Does anyone ever fucking know?" Abel responds laughing. Feeling his phone vibrate, he sees Luke is calling him. "Hey, I gotta take this." He tells Trevor and puts some distance between

them for privacy.

"Yeah" Trevor says distracted by watching everything that's happening in the garage.

"Luke, what's up?" Abel says picking up the phone.

"Ava's gone, kid." He responds.

"What the hell do you mean, gone?" Abel says getting worried.

"Her mom showed up, started talking some shit about Garrett Jones and how he was supposed to help Ava while she was staying here. Look, Abel, that's not important. She left her

phone, and she's not at your house. We need to find her." Luke tells him.

"Yeah, I'm on it." Abel says hanging up.

"Hey, guys! We gotta talk. Some shit just went down with Ava and her mom. Turns out her mom was the one that send Garrett here." Abel says telling everyone what Luke told him.

"What? What kind of stupid bitch is she?" Tig asks getting out from under the car.

"Her mom isn't the sanest person out there. She's delusional. Look, when Ava found out, she vanished. Luke doesn't know where the fuck she is. We gotta find her." Abel tells them.

"Of course. We'll send out search teams. We'll get her back." Jax tells his son.

* * *

Everytime shit happened in her life, Ava could always go to Maxie to help figure it out. Ava realized when she got to Maxie's, that she left her phone with uncle Luke. Oh, well. She says to

herself. Ava is laying down on Maxie's red comforter and wondering how she can stomach seeing her mom after what happened. And Abel. She told him once she wouldn't shut him out

again and look what she's doing. She's running, yet again.

"Hey, Ava." Maxie comes in wearing a short floral summer dress.

"What?" Ava responds turning around on her stomach.

"Honey, you've been here for two days. Not once have you called Abel. Listen, Trevor called me this morning. I told him you were here, and you were going to stay here until you're ready

to go back. What about Abel? And school?" Maxie asks putting her hand on Ava's back.

"I don't know. The only thing I'm sure of is that I don't want to see my mom. And I'm going back to Abel." Ava says taking the phone from Maxie and deciding to call Abel.

"Honey, Trevor told me that Abel's pissed. He's mad that you left instead of coming to him. He's pissed that you haven't called to let him know you were okay." Maxie tells her thinking

about the call she got from Trevor.

"I don't know, Maxie. It was like an instinct, just coming here." Ava tells her.

"Well, you need to learn to depend on Abel because he wants to be there for you, honey." Maxie tells her laying down on the bed.

"I know." Ava says getting up and going into the bathroom to call Abel.

As the phone begins ringing, Ava thinks of what to say.

"Ava?" Abel picks up. His voice sounding pissed.

"Yeah, it's me." She tells him.

"Are you okay?" He asks her.

"Yeah, I just had to think about some things. Abel, listen-" Ava sits down in the tub wanting to tell him everything that's been going on with her, but he interrupts her.

"If we're gonna talk, it'll be face to face. Get your ass back to Charming." Abel commands her.

"Well, gee, missed you too, babe. Don't order me around, Abel. And I'll be back tomorrow night." Ava tells him getting pissed and hanging up on him. She leaves the bathroom and Maxie

asks her how it went.

"It went shitty. That's how it went." Ava says turning on the stereo.


	8. Chapter 8

Here's another one! I hope you guys like it. Just wanna send a thanks to all who review. Really appreciate it!

* * *

Fate brings about surprises almost as often as deer get hit by cars. Driving back to Charming the next night, Ava wonders what kind of shit she did in her past life for fate to fuck her over this badly. She thinks

about the advice Maxie gave her about Abel. Ava knows she has to rely on him, but old habits are hard to break. Looking at the sky, it looks like it will rain...perfect, Ava thought. The weather is yet another

reminder of how screwed up her life has become.

* * *

Later...

"Luke?" Ava yells out cautiously as she comes in through the front door.

"Ava! Baby, you came back." Luke says thankfully wrapping her in one of his big hugs.

"Yeah, I just needed some time to think." Ava tells him.

"So your mom left. I told her to stay away until you can stomach seeing her face again. Listen, Ava. Next time you wanna disappear, you gotta at least leave me a note or something. I get things are shitty, but some

crazy shit could have happened to you and none of us would know." Luke tells her.

"Will do, Luke. And thanks, you know, for looking out for me." Ava tells him grateful for how much he's done for her.

"Of course, babe." Luke tells her giving her a kiss to the forehead.

"Has Abel come by?" Ava asked knowing she'll have to see him.

"He's around. By the way, you remember the carnivals tomorrow right?" Luke asks her with a tone of smugness in his voice when he replied about Abel. The carnival is thrown annually to celebrate the beginning of a

new school year. The high school students always run it.

"What do you mean, he's around? And I hate carnivals." Ava says quietly to herself going upstairs to get ready for a shower when Luke wouldn't give her an answer. Wondering why Abel wasn't there since he knew

she was coming home, she walks into her room and sees a sleeping and shirtless Abel on her bed. Coming to stand by the bed, Ava notices the bandage on his left shoulder blade. Not wanting to disturb him, she

walks away and goes to take a shower, wondering what the bandage was covering.

* * *

Coming out of the bathroom in a black-laced and comfortable dress, Ava sees Abel awake sitting up against the headboard.

"Hey" Abel says reaching out his hand to her.

"Hi. How long have you been here?" She asks him one of her hands taking his and the other going through her wet sits by him and places her hand on his jean covered leg.

"A few hours. Come here." Abel tells her pulling her close so she's straddling his thighs. "I've missed you." He says kissing her neck and rubbing her center against his throbbing member.

"No, we're not doing this, Abel." Ava says kissing him one last time and getting off of him.

"Talking won't solve shit. You left, Ava." Abel tells her accusingly.

"You don't own me, Abel. By the way, what's the gaze for on your back?" Ava says throwing him his shirt because trying to talk to him while his chest was bear was damn near impossible for Ava to do.

"Chibs did it this morning." Abel says stretching out on the bed.

"What, like a tattoo?" Ava says motioning Abel to turn onto his back. Peeling the gaze back, Ava saw an intricate design of the legendary crow but with the crow sitting intricately on top of an anchor. "Abel, this is

fucking crazy. It must have taken hours."

"It was all right. Chibs said he could do yours whenever you're ready." Abel says stretching out his shoulder as she taped the gaze back down.

"I've always wanted one, but hell if I know what design I want." Ava says running her hand up and down Abel's back.

"The crow." Abel says knowing that Ava is his old lady, whether she accepts it or not. The tattoo of the crow on a girl's body is like their induction into the club. It binds them to their men and to the club.

"The crow?" Ava whispers back quietly knowing that if she got it, it would solidify her in Abel's life. The message would be loud and clear to any guy out there that she did belong to Abel. It would give him power

over her and Ava wasn't sure she was ready for that permanency.

"I love you, whether you like it or not. I know I'm not the easiest guy to live with, but I'll treat you right. You gotta start trusting me." Abel says sitting up and leaning in to kiss her.

"I love you too and I wanna be with you. It's just that...I'm not sure I'm ready to give you the reins in my life." Ava says placing her head against his check.

"We don't need to rush anything, babe. And it's not like we're getting married yet. There's time for that shit later, but you're getting that tat." Abel says pretty damn sure he'll convince her to get it.

"We'll talk about the tattoo later. Abel, I'm done with my mom. I can't trust her anymore and there's no point in trying to fix this." Ava says trying to contain the hurt she feels inside.

"I'm here for you and the club is here for you. Whatever you decide to do, I won't let you go." Abel tells her.

"What about Garrett?" Ava asks him.

"He's gone, and he won't bother anyone ever again." Abel says nonchalantly like he was talking about the weather.

"Abel! This isn't a joke. You're sure that nothing can trace you guys to his death?" Ava asks relieved that the club took care of Garrett, but scared as shit that it could come back on them.

"We took care of it. Don't worry." Abel tells her. "You coming to the carnival tomorrow? My ma is making me go. I gotta do the baseball."

"Yeah, I guess. I gotta do the ticket booth." Ava says pushing his hand away when his hand slid too far up her thigh.

"Come on!" Abel whines knowing he ain't getting any tonight.

"Consider it punishment for trying to order me around. I'm not one of those little boys that you and the rest of the club can order around." She tells him thinking about all of the possible pre-prospects that the club

has got in training.

"Shit, you're gonna drive me fucking crazy." Abel says trying to get comfortable since his jeans are becoming too tight for comfort.

"Poor baby!" Ava laughs quietly. Picking up Abel's cut on the edge of the bed, she looks at it wondering how crazy life could get being married to Abel, but then again, they haven't even graduated high school yet.

Ava knows the future can bring about anything. She just hopes that she and Abel can pull through it together.

"Shit, that reminds me. Since you're cutting ties with your certifiable mother, you're staying in Charming after graduation, right?" Abel asks.

"I don't know. It depends on if I have a good enough reason to stay here." Ava replies teasing him and laughs when he groans at her answer.


	9. Chapter 9

Waking up in the morning at 5 AM is pretty shitty when you've been up all night long. Abel spent the night and god knows they didn't get any sleep.

"You're never spending another night here." Ava tells him getting out of bed. The two of them spent the night talking about their relationship, Ava's fears, and what things will be like after high school.

"It wasn't my fault. You were the one who couldn't sleep." Abel tells her getting in the shower.

"Unbelievable. If you kept your hands to yourself, I could have gone to sleep." Ava mumbles to herself.

"I heard that." Abel yelled from the bathroom.

"Hurry up!" She yells back at him.

Half an hour later, Abel and Ava got in the car and went to the carnival. With his hand resting on her thigh, Abel drove into the parking lot and leaned over to give her a heated kiss.

"I can't fucking believe I gotta spend my day here." Abel says looking out at the preparations for the carnival.

"It won't be long. Trevor will be here and the two of you can keep each other out of trouble." Ava tells him teasing him as she slides her hand down his chest to his belt.

"Don't start what you can't finish. I'm gonna smack your ass one day, girl." Abel tells her with a husky voice.

"And maybe one day, I'll enjoy it." Ava tells him getting out of the car and walking towards Clay and the rest of the club.

Walking up to the food booth being set up, Ava says hi to Tara and Gemma.

"How are things going with him?" Gemma asks Ava putting her hand around her shoulder.

"He's driving me crazy." Ava laughs seeing Abel and Trevor walking towards them.

"Yeah, they always are." Gemma replies turning to look at the men in her life. Clay was standing with Jax and Juice no doubt talking about the dunking booth that Clay will be participating in. Clay had a lot to say

when he found out Gemma volunteered him for it but Gemma couldn't resist.

"Hey, Ava!" Trevor tells her giving her a brotherly hug.

"What's up? Maxie's getting pissed that you call at 2 in the morning, every morning." Ava tells him laughing at the grin on his face.

"That girl is fucking psychotic, but she's a hell of a chase." Trevor tells her eating some Doritos.

Ava tells him she's gonna go get ready at the ticket booth. Walking towards the entrance, Abel comes up behind her and whispers in her ear.

"Hey, babe." He tells her running his fingers along the line of bare skin above her jeans.

"You should come visit me in here." Ava tells him walking up to the booth.

"Hey, Abel! Come help us set this shit up." Opie yells out to him turning around with a blank stare on his face as he wonders why they got left with the shitty ass balloons.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Abel replies leaving Ava with a kiss on the neck. "I'll be by around lunch."

The carnival turned out to be pretty crazy. Almost every cop that was there tried out the dunking booth trying to beat Clay. By the time the day was through, Clay was aiming bullets with his eyes at

Gemma. He was soaked! Abel didn't have any better luck. The kids there trying to hit the baseball hit Abel and Trevor so hard when swinging, they were both limping by the time lunch came around.

"This is bullshit!" Trevor told Gemma when he came to get his lunch.

"Those kids can't hit for shit" Abel says putting some ice on his knee.

"Hey, don't be pussies." Gemma tells them rolling her eyes.

"Tara, the guys and I gotta go to the clubhouse to take care of something. You girls'll be okay here?" Jax asks Tara planting a kiss on her.

"Yeah, sure." Tara replies giving him a kiss.

"By the way, whose that guy with Maddie over there?" Jax asks feeling uneasy about a guy near his baby girl.

"Do not cause a scene." Tara warns him. "He's a kid from school. Abel knows him. Says he's an all right guy."

"Yeah, we'll see." Jax tells her but still glaring at the guy whose hand was making his way around Maddie's waist.

"I'll take care of it, dad." Abel tells him making his way over to his sister.

"Hey, Trevor. Go with him. Watch his back." Gemma tells him knowing how protective Abel can get over his sister.

"Hey, Maddie, Dean." Abel says coming up to stand in between her and this guy who's obviously trying to get in her pants.

"Hey, Abel." Maddie replies feeling the tension radiating off of her brother towards Dean. "Dean was telling me about his dad getting pulled over in Oregon. His dad's a truck-driver."Maddie continues trying to keep

Abel calm.

"Yeah." Dean says knowing that Abel was pissed off at him and trying to calm the situation down.

"Come on, Maddie. Dad needs you over there." Abel says glaring at Dean as Maddie waves goodbye.

"You're being an over-protective prick, Abel!" Maddie says to him feeling embarrassed.

"No, Maddie. What I just did was a lot nicer than what dad would've done. He's not a bad guy. Dad doesn't know him yet so try not to flaunt what's going on between you and Dean in front of him, all right?" Abel

tells her.

"Yeah, you're right." Maddie says walking up to her parents and taking the burger her mom handed her.

Abel went to see Ava like he promised. She looked tired and bored.

"Hey, babe." Ava calls out to him as he walks up to her and gives her a kiss resting his hand on her waist.

"How's it been?" Abel asks her taking a sip of his coke.

"Boring. Next time, we should pretend to be fucking sick and then the school will get off our backs about this shit." Ava says leaning into Abel and closing her eyes.

"It's almost done. Let me spend the night again. I'll let you sleep." He tells her.

"Okay." She whispers quietly.

On the drive home, Ava once again leaned into Abel and fell asleep. Abel carried her up to bed and undressed her, knowing how she hates to sleep in tight clothes. Laying down beside her, he wraps his

arms around her, thanking God that she's here with him.


	10. Chapter 10 Part 1

The morning rays shined in through the blinds highlighting the young couple's skin as they lay asleep wrapped up in each other.

"Hey, you two! It's time to get up. Abel, we need you down at the garage." Jax yells through the door as Tara walks by laughing at the mood her husband is in.

"Yeah, I'm coming down, dad. It's too early for this shit." Abel yells back laying his head under the covers on Ava's breasts.

"You gotta get up, baby." Ava tells him letting out a lover's sigh as Abel teases her aroused nipple with his lips.

"Abel. get your ass up!" Jax yells losing his temper on the other side of the door.

"Since you're so set on pissing your old man off, did you at least lock the door last night?" Ava asks pulling away and getting out of bed with the sheet wrapped around her.

"Shit." Abel says getting up to crack open the door and tell his dad he'll be down soon.

"Be careful" Ava says to him coming up behind him and kissing the anchor on his back. "By the way, when are you getting the other tat?"

"Tonight." He replies turning around to kiss her back.

"Can I be there" She asks him laying back on the bed.

"Nah. It's members only." He tells her getting in the shower.

"In that case, I hope it hurts like a bitch!" Ava says to him as he gets in the shower. Turning on her back, she laughs to herself as she hears the water turn on thinking about how happy she is for Abel. Being the son of the V.P. of the club put a lot of pressure on him. After tonight, he'll be able to relax and with the tattoo, he will be intergrated into the club.

After Abel gets out of the shower, he asks her if she wants to go to Trevor's later to plan the bonfire.

"Babe, I gotta work, since you know, I cut ties with my mother." She tells him kissing the side of his mouth and getting her stuff for a shower.

"Will you be over tonight?" He asks her.

"No, Luke wants me home, but I will call you later." She says going into the bathroom.

* * *

Working at a market can be good when there is something new happening in town. Ava is staking up the aisles but is listening to the conversation town cop Jaimison is having with a new deputy Ava's never seen before. They're talking about the gun problem in Charming. Turns out the new cop is former AFT and in town to break the cycle of gun distribution.

"There's a warehouse I wanna stake out. Could have some connection to Samcrow and the Dirt-riders that are coming in from the south. Clay and Jax are up to something." Jaimison is telling the AFT agent. The Dirt-riders are from the south coming up from Baja out of Mexico with a guy named Almeida as the in-between guy for both crews. Ava remembers telling her that Clay just wants to check out other options that won't draw attention to Charming with the AFT since the AFT presence in town has decreased over the years. Clay wants to keep it that way.

Telling her manager that she is going to use the bathroom, Ava calls Abel and gets his voicemail.

"Ava! Come on! It's getting busy up front." Clifton says knocking on the door.

Ava sends Abel a text telling him she'll tell him later and warning him not to come to the store. After she puts her phone in her bra, she goes back to work.

* * *

Garage

Abel stands looking at the truck that was towed into the garage. It was the most burnt piece of shit-car he's ever seen.

"Hey, look at this!" Juice says over his shoulder to Abel who is looking under the hood.

"What'd you find?" Abel comes up to him. Pulling out a picture of the owner of the car and Garrett both on a boat together. From the picture, the two look to be good friends. What the hell?

"Garrett's been gone for a while now. Makes sense that people would come looking for the bastard." Juice says knowing this new guy could be trying to cause some trouble if he asks too many questions.

"What could he do? Garrett's vanished, we don't know shit." Abel says walking into the back to talk to Jax.

"Hey, kid. You ready for tonight?" Jax asks looking away from the computer screen as Abel walks in.

"Look at this shit" Abel says hanging over the picture and pulling out a beer from the mini-fridge.

"Don't worry about this guy, Abel. Juice will check him out. There's nothing he can do. Nothing to tie Garrett to us." Jax tells him.

"Nothing except Ava." Abel replies.

"This happens, son. Ava may be questioned by the cops and whoever this guy is, she may not. As long as she doesn't talk, nothing happens. Nothing to worry about. What happened at the warehouse never happened." Jax explains knowing that Ava is the key to moving on from this Garrett situation. As long as Ava stays silent, there's nothing to worry about.

"Ava won't talk to no one." Abel says putting his beer down. "What time tonight?" He asks thinking about the club's insignia that will be a permanent part of him for the rest of his life after tonight.

"Midnight. It'll be done in one sitting just to get it out of the way." Jax replies seeing Tara pull up. "Shit, your mother's here."

"What'd you do this time?" Abel laughs thinking about how pissed his mom can get when Jax ticks her off.

"Do me a favor, will you? Shut the fuck up! She wants to invite Dean to dinner and I told her no." Jax says going outside to greet his wife.

Abel chuckles to himself knowing how much hell his mom can raise to get her way with her old man. Taking his phone out, he sees the missed call from Ava and opens the text. Knowing that Ava wouldn't tell him not to go to the store for nothing, he puts his phone on vibrate and decides to wait for her to call back and walks back into the garage.

"Abel!" Maddie walks into the garage and gives him a hug.

"What's up, baby girl?" He tells her thinking about the situation with Dean. Maddie always had Jax wrapped around her finger.

"Talk to dad for me?" She asks him pushing her hazel-shaded hair out of her face.

"Don't worry 'bout Dean. As long as he don't try anything, dad won't touch him." He tells his sister thinking how serious things are getting with this guy.

"I don't want to be babied. You all crowd around me, it's like I can't breathe." Maddie says letting her temper show.

"Relax, Maddie. It'll work out. Dad and the rest of us just wanna make sure you're safe." He tells her

"You ready for tonight?" She asks him feeling anxious and happy cause Abel has waited for this night for so long.

"Don't worry about me." He tells her laughing as he pulls on her hair.

"Eat shit, Abel!" She responds giving him a small shove backwards.

So I'm back! So Sorry it took so long to update. Lots been going on! But here is the next part. Any suggestions and reviews would be great!


	11. Chapter 10 Part 2

Hiii! Here's the next part. This is the chapter before the bonfire so if anyone has any suggestions or reviews, its appreciated :D

BTW Garrett's friend is about to make a visit to a certain club member very soon...

* * *

Ava was finishing up closing at the store when she saw Luke waiting outside in his truck. Looking at Luke smoking a cigarette, she wonders what he would say if she got the crow.

"Hey, Luke." She tells him giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"How was work?" He asks her getting in the truck.

"Work. Nothing new happened." She tells him.

"Your mother called wondering if we've heard fom that piece of shit Garrett." He tells her sounding pissed.

"Really? Of course she'd wonder." Ava replies sarcastically. "We haven't seen him. That's what we say."

"Yeah, I know. I know. I just don't want you to get in the middle of this if the cops start askin questions." He says worrying about the fallout of this whole situation.

"Hey you don't need to worry, okay? Abel took care of it so it's over." She tells him wanting life to move on from this.

"Yeah, but this won't just go away this soon. Your mom will ask questions and try to start some shit. And who knows? With this going on, maybe it'll help you decide what you wanna do after graduation." Luke tells her pulling into the driveway.

"What do you mean?" Ava asks him getting out of the car and going inside the house.

"Abel's life is not the most normal one invented, honey. Crazy shit happens and lies are a necessity. I just wanna know that you know what you're getting yourself into before it's too late to get out." He tells her. "This life is no joke, no game. Clay and Jax are serious men. Once you're in, you're in."

"I know." Ava says trying to figure out if she can handle everything that comes with being a part of Abel's life. "When I need to decide, I will. This is my life."

"You haven't decided yet? Ava, you've let Abel in. You trusted him to protect you. And you stand by him through all the trouble he and his boys start. What the hell makes you think you haven't already chosen the outlaw life?" He tells her. The phone rings and Ava sees its Abel.

"I gotta take this." She tells him avoiding his question and going upstairs to her room. "Hey, baby." She says picking up the phone.

_"I got your text. What's wrong?" Abel asks._

"Where are you?" She asks him barely able to hear him with the noise and music in the background.

_"I'm with the club getting the tattoo done."_ He tells her.

"Nothing's wrong. Don't worry about it. It can wait till tomorrow." She tells him not wanting to get him upset over her mom and the ATF agent at work.

_"All right. I gotta go but I'll call you tomorrow." _He tells her.

"Yeah. Love you." She says ending the call and laying down on her bed.

Next morning...

Waiting for Abel to call, Ava decides to clean up house to keep her mind off things. Walking around the house in Abel's white t'shirt and red shorts, she starts getting the living room cleaned up while Luke is still asleep. Midway through her cleaning, the doorbell rings.

"Come in." Ava says to the visitor. "Hey, Maddie."

"Hey, girl. Spring cleaning are we?" She asks making both of them laugh. Since she and Abel got together, her and Maddie have gotten close, both wantin him happy.

"Yeah, just wanna sort through this house before things get busy with school and work and stuff." Ave tells her sitting down on the couch. "How's Abel? And tell me about Dean."

"Abel's great, just goes around grinning and shit. He would have come but mom wants him to take it easy since he got the tattoo all over his back and the other one just got done healing. He wanted me to tell you he'd call later. He's been asleep all day." She tells her laying her head back.

"That's good. What about Dean? I mean, how is that going?" Ava asks getting up to get both of them a beer.

"It's going good. I wish my dad was a little nicer and stuff but it's working out." Maddie says playing with the straps on her gray hoodie.

"You're his baby girl. Daddys always have a hard time letting another guy be his little girl's prince charming. He'll let up once he accepts that Dean isn't just a guy you're hanging out with. This is a guy that you want." Ava tells her thinking about how tense things were between Abel and Luke when Abel first started coming around. Luke didn't kick Abel out of the house but he wasn't the nicest guy either by giving Abel the third degree all the damn time.

"Yeah, but my mom's working on that." Both girls laugh at that. "Anyways this bonfire tonight. Things are being put together and you and I are in charge of the food. Opie took care of the cops so nobodys gonna bother us or start shit."

"I can't wait. It'll be a good night." Ava says also telling Maddie that she invited Maxie.

"Maxie? Oh, shit! Trevor doesn't know?" She asks.

"Maxie wanted to surprise him." Ava says laughing at how this cat and mouse game is playing out between the two. As the two girls sit and talk about later that night, Luke comes down the stairs wearing only his boxers.

"Morning, lads." Luke says casually looking around for his smokes.

"Luke, get upstairs and get dressed. We have a guest." Ava tells him trying not to laugh her ass off.

"Don't worry about it, Ava. I've seen worse, believe me. Nothing is more rated R than the guys that my dad and Abel know." Maddie interrupts causing all three of them to laugh.

"I believe it." Ava tells her smiling at Abel's name. "We gonna go now to get the food?"

"Yeah, we'll get it now and then drive it to Trevor's and put it in the coolers and Trevor will drive it down in his truck." Maddie says taking out the lost of food they'll need.

"All right, let me just change and we can go. By the way, I figure I should tell you. I saw an ATF agent talking to the Jaimison" Ava says telling her everything she overheard.

"Wow. ATF again? Jesus Christ. Well, let's tell Abel and Trevor first and the club will decide what they wanna do." Maddie tells her sounding confident that the club will resolve this.

"You sound so sure." Ava says knowing the feds in Charming is no good.

"The club took care of the feds once and they can handle them now. No worries, Ava." Maddie tells her.

"Yeah." She replies thinking about the history between SAMCRO and ATF agents, especially with an agent Stahl. Her phone started vibrating and she sees a text from Abel. "It's your brother."

_Hey, I'm up and I miss you. Come over. My mom doesn't want me driving yet._

"He wants me to come over." Ava tells her.

"Later. Let's finish this first." Maddie says laughing at her brother.

"Ok, I told him we'll stop by after we get this food and drop it off at Trevor's place." Ava says.


	12. Chapter 11

Here's the bonfire :D I know I have taken forever to update but it's been hard for me to get back into writing. Reviews, as always, are appreciated.

* * *

"Jesus Christ, how much meat can a group of people eat?" Ava asks looking at the list of food that Maddie brought with her.

"I don't know. I'm just glad that we don't have to cook any of it. Although who knows how that meats gonna come out when Trevor's done with it?" Maddie replies putting chocolate and smores into the cart.

As the girls get everything they need, Ava's mind drifts back what she and Luke were talking about earlier. Lying Ava can do. It's not hard to lie when you're protecting the people you love. What scares the hell out of her the most is knowing that one day, Abel may not be there anymore. He may be in a cage doing time or six feet underground. That's the worst part. She's investing everything she's got in a guy who works at a garage during the day and sells guns and protects his club's territory at night.

"Hello, girls." Ava's thoughts get interrupted by the last voice she wants to hear right now.

"Officer," Maddie replies as both girls face Jaimison.

"That's a lot of food for two young girls." He comments looking at the red cart full of food.

"Oh, you know how it is. One can never have enough food." Ava says.

"Hmm. I trust you girls heard about that accident up by the gas station involving the black truck, right?" Jaimison asks curiously.

"Yeah, heard it was pretty bad. Now, we don't mean to be rude but we gotta check out." Maddie says as politely as she can knowing that he is fishing for some information.

"Of course. Don't mean to take up so much of your time. I just wanted to remind Ava here that if she remembers anything more about Garrett or if he mentioned anything about where he might be going. Seems one of his buddies came to Charming concerned about his whereabouts. His buddy was the one in the accident.—" Jaimison says looking at Ava trying to get some information out of her.

"I already told you guys everything I know. I don't know Garrett well at all." Ava says.

"It was great seeing you, deputy. Now we really gotta go." Maddie says sarcastically. Walking away, Maddie smirks seeing the look of annoyance on the cop's face.

_Nightfall_

As Abel parks the truck at the bonfire, Ava looks around and sees the fire already under way even though it was supposed to start an hour from now.

"You boys are so impatient." Ava says getting out and putting her hoodie on.

"Not impatient, babe. Just enjoying life." Abel says getting a beer out of the nearest cooler. "You want one?"

"Nah. I'ma find me a vodka bottle." Ava says laughing as Abel throws some cold-ass water from the cooler on her. "Hey!"

"All right." Abel says reaching to lean her against the truck and lay one on her. The kiss was rough and dominating as Ava wraps her arms around his waist and lets him control it.

"Hey, Romeo and Juliet! Knock that shit off unless you're planning on giving us a show tonight." Trevor says taking a swing of his beer.

"Hello to you too, Trevor!" Ava says laughing as she gives him a hug.

"What's up, man?" Abel says ready to party.

"Oh, you know. The usual. My dick and some girl's skirt." He responds and gets distracted from a brunette walking by.

"Oh, wait! Before I lose my ability to think straight, there's gonna be church tomorrow at noon to go over that information your girl has provided." Trevor says tugging playfully on Ava's hair. When Ava came over Abel's house after shopping, she told him everything that happened at work.

"A'ight. Go have fun, man." Abel says then picks Ava up and flings her over his shoulder.

"Hey, asshole! What the hell are you doing?" Ava says laughing and trying to get down.

"We are gonna go dance, baby." Abel says slapping her on the ass.

_Sometime later…..and a whole lot of dancing later_

"Holy shit. My feet hurt." Ava says sitting down on the sand, more than a little tipsy watching her man play beer pong with the boys. Currently, the winning champion is Ricky, a buff, Irish-blooded member that was patched in about four months back.

"Hey, honey." Maxie says stumbling up behind her.

"Hey, you. Where the hell have you been?" Ava asks taking a sip of her drink.

"Just hanging around. Man, of all the parties my ass has been to, the Sons throw the craziest," Maxie says.

"Yeah, they're the real deal," Ava says looking back at the beer pong game.

"How are things with the second prince?" Maxie asks stretching her jean-covered jeans in front of her.

"Second prince?" Ava questions.

"Abel. Since Clay is king, Jax is next in line, followed by Abel." Maxie states.

"Wow….Um, we're fine." Ava responds trying lately to keep the shit between her and Abel between her and Abel.

"You never did tell me what happened with Garrett. All you said was that the son of a bitch wasn't a problem anymore." Maxie asked curious about how the Garrett mess was solved so fast since Abel found out.

"Apparently, he skipped town. Nobody's heard from him or seen him which makes me blissfully happy." Ava says whispering the last part to herself. She hated lying to her best friend but some shit should just be left buried.

As a hard breeze came by, Ava and Maxie just laid on the sand not stable enough to stand, let alone dance anymore. Trading gifts and laughs, Ava hears two croweaters talking close by about snatching themselves a brother.

"These girls have been trying to get at one of them since they were old enough to suck cock. I gotta say, hon. This world you're becoming a part of, bikes and bikers, and shitloads of beer, you went the whole ten yards. You're becoming an old lady." Maxie says putting quotations around the old lady part with her fingers.

"You are crazy as shit, Max.' Ava laughs thinking about being an old lady.

"No, I think it's Hot as shit. Getting a tattoo to show your love for your man. It's sexy." Maxie says wrapping her hand around Ava's shoulders.

"Really? You think it's so sexy? You go nail a brother and get your SAMCRO stamp." Ava replies reaching for another drink.

"Hmm. I don't know. These drunken idiots are rather high maintenance." Maxie laughs. "Nothing's simple with them."

"Ain't that the truth?" Ava says putting her black hood on.

"You think you and Abel are the real thing?" Maxie asks seriously nudging Ava's hand to get her attention.

"Man, I'm not sober enough for this conversation." Ava says chugging down her tequila.

As the night goes on, Ava and Maxie attempt at dancing again. The best part about the night though was climbing in the back of Trevor's pickup and falling asleep on Abel's chest.

_Next Day_

Ava goes to the local drug store to buy some meds for her massive hangover. Apparently, her uncle used them all the last time he had a party of his own. Walking around the store in her pink sweats and gray t-shirt with her big sunglasses on, Ava takes long breaths trying hard not to vomit.

"Ava? That you? You look like shit." Gemma says coming up to her.

Looking at Gemma with her smirk on her face, Ava really hopes she doesn't get called a pussy at 8 o'clock in the morning for not being able to handle drinking. While Ava acknowledges to herself that she can't go off on Gemma Morrow, she feels like shit and hopes this little meeting in aisle 7 will go fast so she can go home and pass the hell out.

"Hi, Gemma. How are you?" Ava says trying to keep her tone nice.

"Heard the bonfire was fun. Maddie is still passed out on the couch at home." Gemma says looking at her attire and not being pleased.

"Well, you know how it is. Shit happens." Ava says taking some advil off the rack and getting more and more agitated by the second.

"Ava, you look like shit." Gemma says with a disapproving tone. To Gemma, SAMCRO girls gotta represent. They can't go around looking like they just walked out of dumpster.

"Okay. It's 8 in the morning on a Sunday. Last night was beyond crazy and to be quite honest, I can't remember much. I have no meds at home so excuse the fuck out of me if I'm not at my best right now. I hope you have a great ass day but my ass is going home. I can't function right now." Ava says taking her glasses off to look Gemma in the eyes.

"Really? Maybe next time, you should be more prepared for the party life. By the way, it was fun chitchatting with you." Gemma says smirking at her again.

"Do we have a problem, Gemma? I mean, other than the fact that I look like shit." Ava replies staring back at her.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, we do. When you fix yourself up, stop by the garage. We need to go over something." Gemma says walking away.

"Shit. What the hell did I do now?" Ava says whispering to herself and wincing when the loud ass intercom came on in the store.


	13. Chapter 12

After almost getting in an accident on the way home, Ava firmly believes that next time she drinks, she should follow Gemma's advice and stock up on advil to avoid leaving her front door with a hangover.

Pulling into her driveway, Ava notices a tall and bruised up man on her porch. Getting out of the car, Ava sees him walk towards her.

"May I help you?" Ava says less than kindly.

"Are you Ava Blair?" The man asks coming towards her with a slight limp.

"Yeah. Who are you?" Ava asks keeping close to her car.

"My name is Steve Clyte. I'm a close friend of Garrett's. I talked to your mother. Seems he came to Charming for you." He asked extending his hand to greet her.

"Yeah, hi." Ava says shaking his hand. "He came to check up on me for my mom. I don't know where he is though. I already told the police everything I know."

"You sure? He called a while back and said you two got real close. He had a real soft spot for you. Even mentioned something about a bonfire that you two went to." Steve said taking a step closer.

"What" Ava asks wondering if Steve knew anything about the shit he's been trying to pull since he got to town.

"Listen, little girl. I know what you told the cops already. Garrett told me that if anything happens to him, you would know about it. Now, let's skip this bullshit chit-chat and you tell me what you know about his disappearance." Garrett says, his hands closing into tight fists.

"Are you shitting me? I already told you. I don't know anything about your friend. Now, I suggest you get off my property before I call the cops." Ava says trying to keep her head straight with a headache from hell.

"We'll see. Oh, and Ms. Blair? One last thing. About the bonfire, I thought you looked real good in those jean shorts. Real nice, honey." Steve said as he gave her a salute goodbye and started walking to a dark, green covered jeep across the street.

"Oh, shit." Ava says turning to unlock her door. Starting to freak out about what Steve just said to her, she slides down her door and takes deep breaths trying to get her head in order. Taking some advil, she stares at the hunting gun that her uncle keeps on display above the mantelpiece.

_Steve's POV_

Steve drives away from Ava's house with a venomous smile on his face. He is certain she knows more than she's letting on. But first things first. Garrett has been like his brother for much of his life and Garrett came to Charming to do one thing and that's stop the monopoly that the Sons of Anarchy are starting up on the gun business coming in from Kale. Ava Blair was a means to an end that Steve himself suggested. But first things first. Business comes before pleasure.

"The little bitch. Who knows? Maybe I'll finish what Garrett started with the little brunette," Steve murmurs to himself.

_Teller-Morrow Garage_

"Hey, got intel that Jones' buddy got released from St. Thomas." Chibs says telling Jax when he showed up at the garage.

"Really? Why the hell do we give a shit?" Jax laughs. "We have no business with Clyte."

"Just keepin bases covered. Clay said to let you lead this one." Chibs replies whipping the car oil from his hands.

"Nah. We're all covered. Nobody knows or saw shit. Now, come on. Let's get to work. We gotta get some of this shit done before the Old Ladies show up and start trouble." Jax says picking up some car forms laying around.

"You got it, V.P. How's Abel doing?" Chibs asks hearing about the festivities going on the night before.

"His mother decided to show some mercy this morning. You know what's wrong about this shit man?" Jax asks.

"What's that, Jackie-boy?" Chibs says taking the forms Jax handed him.

"When I was his age and suffering a hangover, she wouldn't let me sleep five damn minutes."Jax says taking his cut off to start working on a sedan that needs an engine fix.

"Huh. Jax, you and Clay married the two most unstable women I ever laid eyes on. You deserve this shit." Chibs replies laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. Damn woman is gonna bring me to an early grave." Jax says laughing knowing he wouldn't trade any of it for anything. "By the way, when's your new girl getting here?"

"Can't get here soon enough," Chibs says. A few years ago, on some business in Tacoma, Chibs meet a Washington native named Vanessa. All of 5'6", she is a short, haired blonde with close ties to the brothers in Washington since she is able to get the medical supplies that the brothers need on occasion. She is a fifteen year nurse veteran who wanted to play a game of pool at a bar and ran into Chibs. Although she hasn't been able to make the move to Charming as of yet, they've been making it work, but both are losing their patience with the long distance bullshit.

"You think she'll make the move down here? You switching charters is not the most favored course of action, bro." Jax says seriously.

"Ah, Jax. The divorce to Fiona is permanent now. Nothing stopping us, you know? Although, there is something I could live without when it comes to my Vanessa." Chibs states.

"I hope it's not the sex," Jax jokes taking the wrench from Chibs.

"Nah, brother. It's her goddamn cooking. Woman almost set the clubhouse up there on fire twice trying to cook. How the hell is that possible?" Chibs wonders chuckling.

"Women are mysterious creatures. They can do the hardest of tasks, but some of the easiest jobs just seem to slip their minds." Jax says getting to work.

"Hey, Jax?" The newest prospect, Benny, says calling out.

"Don't you got a dumpster to clean, Prospect?" Jax says in an annoyed voice.

"There's a guy here. Wants to talk to Clay, wants to get his possessions from his car. He said his car was the car that caught fire." Benny says trying not to piss Jax off.

"Really?" Chibs says looking at Jax. As the two brothers walk out to greet the newcomer, Jax immediately recognizes the guy as Steve Clyte from the picture with Garrett.

"Can we help you?" Jax asks.

"Hello, gentlemen. My name's Steve Clyte. As you aware, I had an unfortunate accident. I'm here trying to get any of my possessions from the truck in the accident." Steve says extending a hand to Jax.

"The car was towed to the yard. There wasn't much that survived." Jax says shaking his hand.

"Yeah, I just want to check. There were some sentimental items in the truck." Clyte responds coolly.

"Benny, here, can take you to the office and give you the address of the junk yard." Jax responds with just as much ice in his voice.

As Benny leads Clyte to the office, Chibs asks, "You think he'll be trouble?"

"Probably just a nuisance. He'll ask his questions, find no leads, and get the hell out of town. We'll keep an eye on him just in case," Jax says returning to work on the sedan.

_Jax and Tara's house_

"Hello," Gemma says walking into her son's house knowing both her grandkids are home.

"Gemma, I beg of you, for the love of God, don't yell," Maddie says coming out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hands.

"How you doing, baby?" Gemma asks giving her granddaughter a kiss on the check.

"I took pills, I took a shower, I've had two cups of coffee, and I still feel like I have African drums playing around in my goddamn head," Maddie says sitting down slowly on the couch.

"Shit, it was that bad, huh?" Gemma asks laughing. "Listen, I came over cause I want to know what you think about Ava. She's getting into some deep shit with Abel."

"Shouldn't you be having this conversation with the couple in question?" Maddie says hoping she can still get some sleep before Dean gets off from work.

"I saw Ava this morning and she looks like shit. I've seen strippers and hookers look more put together than she did this morning." Gemma says pulling out a cigarette.

"Hey, don't be so hard on her. She drank some of the strongest and weirdest combinations of liquor I have seen a girl drink in a while. She's good for Abel, you know? If she couldn't handle the club, she wouldn't let shit go on. She knows what she can and can't handle. Besides, she usually doesn't look like she did when you saw her this morning," Maddie replies pulling a blanket over her bare toes.

"Abel needs someone put together, you know? Like your dad did. He needs someone who can stand by his side cause if this shit is as permanent as Abel and Ava make it look like, there's no time like the present to show a united front. Jax will one day lead this club, and after Jax will come Abel. It's my job and Tara's to make sure that Abel chooses good because whatever he chooses, the club will have to choose." Gemma says speaking from wisdom.

"I like her. She's collected, knows what she wants. Who knows, though? But I'd like to believe that Abel will be a hundred percent sure before he starts drawing up a crow to put on Ava's skin." Maddie says honestly looking at her grandmother.

"Sometimes boys don't think with their brains. They like the feeling they get when they think with their dicks. I told Ava to stop by the garage when she gets ready. I gotta get over there." Gemma says taking a puff of her cigarette.

_Back to the Garage_

Ava shows up at the garage both showered and medicated.

"Opie?" Ava asks seeing Opie going over some papers with Benny.

"Hi. Thought you'd still be passed out," Opie asks laughing as he sees her glasses covering her eyes.

"Yeah, it was crazy." Ava says placing her hands in her back pockets. "Gemma told me to meet her up here. Is she here yet?"

"Yeah, just got here. She's in the office." Opie says telling her he'll see her later and getting back to work.

Walking into the office, Gemma tells her to take a seat.

"I'm not gonna give any long ass talk so let's just get to it. I've been here since the beginning so I know what I'm talking about here. Abel's graduating this year. You'll still have one more year to finish. What the hell are you gonna do when you graduate?" Gemma asks straight out rocking back and forth in the chair.

"What I do is up to me." Ava replies silently acknowledging she does need to figure out how life will be after high school.

"Bullshit. So long as you're with Abel, what you do affects this club. It affects him. You can't be both in and out. You're young, maybe not ready to settle down like you may think you are. You have to decide because Abel's gonna graduate and then he'll be a part of this club 24/7, every day of the week, every month and every breath he takes. Can you handle that?" Gemma asks.

"I'd like to think I can, but who knows, Gemma? Who knows what can happen? We're good now, him and me. Life can get rough and I know that." Playing with her sunglasses, Ava adds, "We are still trying to figure out how to work in sync. It's like you said. We're young."

"Hey, Gemma, Clay's out here. Wants to see you." Opie says coming in.

"I'm coming. Ava, think fast. The more time goes by, the harder it'll be at the end to make your choice, especially if it leads to the end of you and my grandson." Gemma says walking out with Opie.

As Ava gets into her car and leaves the garage, she sees Steve's green jeep parked at the Clifton Market. Driving by, she sees Steve Clyte shaking hands with her boss.


	14. Chapter 13

"Abel?" Ava yells out as she comes up the stairs into her boyfriend's room.

"Hey, babe. You look hot. Is that white lace I see?" Abel says cocking a smile as he sees Ava come in. Her light fitted green shirt fits her beautifully and the v-shape of the collar can't do her rack enough justice as there is the hint of her bra visible. As Abel puts his arm under his head, he looks at her with a hard look of lust and adoration.

"You're still in bed?" Ava asks taking her black, simple sandals off and climbing on his bed.

"Answer my question. I wanna see the lace." Abel laughs and pulls her onto his bare chest and glides his hand from her lower back up her ribs to his destination. When she turns her head towards him, her moan is caught by his lips. Abel's other hand lands on her left hip and he turns them so he's on top. Leaving her lips, he lifts his head to see the girl who's become such a huge part of his heart.

"Hey," Ava whispers up to him. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, he kisses her again but harder this time. Their bodies move against each other, enthralled in the magnetic force field their love has become.

"I gotta have you," he tells her sitting up to lift her shirt off. Left in her white lace bra and jeans, Abel lightly nips her breast running his bare thigh against between her legs to her center. Running his lips down her stomach, he reaches the skin just above her jeans and his hands work fast to discard her jeans.

"I need you now" Ava tells him placing her hands on his hair pulling him up to face her. As he kisses her neck, he lets out a groan as he takes her bra off. Her hands fall to his lips, enjoying the feel of his small thrusts against her lace covered center. Breaking their rhythm long enough to rip the material, she leans into his nightstand to get protection. Ripping the package, she covers his member and he gets into position. As he starts to grind against her, he flips them over again. She starts to ride him at a torturous speed.

"Shit, you're good," He moans out as his hands grip her thighs. He feels her tighten around him as her hips move faster. She places her palms on his abdomen trying to find the leverage she needs to find that moment of pure ecstasy that only Abel can bring to her. Rising his hips to push them both over, she screams his name, falling over him trying to catch her breath as she places her heart over his erratic beating heart.

One of his arms land on the bottom of her back, and the other wraps around her back keeping her skin to skin with him.

"You are incredible," He tells her pulling the sheet up to cover the both of them.

"You bet your ass I am. I had a talk with Gemma. She's worried we're gonna do the same thing to each other that your parents did when they were our age. She wants to know what's gonna happen when we finish school," Ava asks lifting her head to look at him.

"She and mom are just dealing with some shit. The club is gonna change leadership soon. My dad talked to me about it a while back. Clay's hands won't last the year," Abel says loosening his grip and turning to look at the time.

"So your dad will be the president? That changes things. I mean, you'll be next." Ava says realizing that Abel will be thrust into the club business completely to get him ready for when it's his time to take over.

"They are just trying to make the transition from Clay to Jax as smooth as possible," Abel says pulling her down to kiss her.

"Come on, Teller. Come shower with me," Ava says laughing as she gets up dropping the sheet and walking to the bathroom.

After the shower, both walk downstairs hand in hand and grab some food to eat.

"Babe, you know who Steve Clyte is?" Abel asks needing to have her prepared for the guy who's asking around for information on Garrett.

"Um, yeah. He showed up at my house earlier. He said he talked to my mom about Garrett coming here," Ava said sitting up on the counter.

"He went to your house?" Abel asks dropping his drink and walking to stand in between her hands.

"Yeah. I didn't tell him anything. He has suspicions though," Ava tells him.

"My dad told me he stopped by the garage to see what's left of his car. It's probably nothing to worry about," Abel tells her reaching to get his cigarettes out of his cut pocket.

"There's something else. When—" Just as Ava was going to tell him about Clyte being with Garrett at the bonfire, Trevor comes through the front door.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Trevor comes in getting a beer from the fridge.

"How the hell can you guys still drink after yesterday? Jesus Christ, I could barely see straight this morning," Ava says seeing both of them drinking their beers.

"You're a light weight, babe," Abel says laughing with Trevor.

"Hey, what else was it that you wanted to tell me?" Abel asks remembering their conversation before Trevor came.

"Clyte said that he was there at the bonfire with Garrett. Even mentioned what kind of shorts I was wearing," Ava says looking at Abel seeing him visibly tense.

"Shit," Abel says getting his phone and starts calling someone.

"Who are you calling?" She asks getting down from the counter.

"He's calling the others. Ava, this is serious shit. If he was there at the bonfire, then he was working with Garrett. He may try to finish what Garrett started," Trevor tells her.

"What does that mean?" Ava asks not sure she'll like the answer.

"Clyte wants in on some business deals that Jones tried to get in on. He wants to intimidate Abel, try to force his hand to give him what he wants to keep the peace," Trevor says taking a drag of his smoke.

"I don't get it. Garrett's gone so its only Clyte left. One person against the whole club?" Ava asks starting to pace as she hears Abel's voice get louder on the phone.

"It's not just Clyte. He's working with a larger group. That's all I can tell you. Ava, this isn't just a guy pissed off that his partner was vanished." Trevor tells her.

"He wants in on the gun operation. These people he works with, they need the guns. This shit just won't end, will it?" Ava says sitting down in the seat Abel left.

"We won't let anything happen to you," Trevor tells her with a confident smile on his face.

"I got a hold of Tig. He'll pass this on the rest, but something's happened. The warehouse in Tacoma got hit. Trevor, we gotta get to the clubhouse,' Abel says walking back in to pick up his cut. Abel puts it on and leans down in front of Ava.

"Keep your phone on at all times. If Clyte comes up to you again, call me. If you can't get me, call Piney. He's at the garage." Abel tells her kissing her forehead. Just as the guys were opening the door, a violent explosion goes off.

"Shit!" Trevor says ducking down as Abel pulls Ava down.

"What the hell was that?" Ava asks as she sees both of them pull their guns out.

"A car bomb. The black car across the street." Trevor says after rising slowly to see what the explosion was outside.

"Guys?" Maddie says scared as she came running into the kitchen.

"We're all right, sis," Abel says pulling Ava up on her feet.

"Oh my God," Ava says looking outside at the destroyed car that was parked directly across the Teller house on the street.


	15. Chapter 14

People were everywhere, and the amount of traffic going and out of the Teller house was insane. After the explosion, Jax and the whole clubhouse rained down on the house and there was more protection here than the damn police station. Some of the guys were outside watching the police finish with their investigation. Ava stood silently in the living room as Clay came in and told the members to collect their wives and children and spend the night at the clubhouse just to be safe.

"What about school? Tomorrow's Monday," Maddie asks her dad.

"You guys aren't going. We'll lock down the clubhouse for a day or two until we figure this shit out," Jax tells Maddie, Ava, and Abel.

"Maddie, come upstairs with me. We gotta pack supplies," Tara says giving Jax a kiss on the lips. Over the years, Tara has managed to build up a good supply of medical materials. This supply has helped all the MC charters at one point or another.

Ava sat down on the couch as she listened to the guys talking about their upcoming meeting with the Dirt-Riders. Apparently, the go-between, Kale, wants to seal the deal as soon as possible to get some security and protection from Clyte and his crew. To help make this happen, Clay asks the Tacoma president to send some members down earlier than planned. Tacoma is bigger than Charming and they have more members to spare. After the guys finish, Abel lets her know he'll take her back to Luke's so she can get her stuff.

"I can't stay at the clubhouse. I'm a minor and the clubhouse includes a bar. I can't stay there," Ava tells him getting off the couch and picking up her sweeter.

"She's right, Abel. We can't have that kind of heat on us right now. ATF will use it against us. We can have guys keep watch on her around the clock," Jax tells him.

"I'm not leaving you unprotected. Too much shits already gone down." Abel tells her.

"Luke can watch over me. He won't let anything happen. Clyte must know that you guys are on to him and he won't risk making things personal." Ava tells him putting her hands on her hips.

"We'll have guys check up on you. Just be careful and don't go off by yourself. We won't take this lightly but we can't go around losing our heads," Jax tells them.

"Come on. I'll take you home." Abel says putting his hand on her lower back. Walking out, Ava asks him what will happen when Dean comes to see Maddie.

"Right now, Maddie's safety matters. We can't have half of everyone we know stay at the clubhouse. This is just a precaution. Dean knows he can't come between Maddie and the club." He replies motioning her to get on his bike.

"Abel, who does Clyte work with? I mean, he's just a go-between, but who's the real threat here?" Ava asks him settling in on the bike behind him.

"Let's get you home," Abel says avoiding her question.

When they get to her house, Abel and Luke get into it over what should be done to keep Ava safe. After trying to calm both of them down, Ava gets up from sofa and says she's gonna take a shower.

"She'll want to go to places in Charming and out of Charming. She has people she visits. You can't keep her in one place and expect her to listen." Luke tells him smoking his cigarette. Luke's anger has only grown since Abel dropped his niece off.

"She's in this whether we like it or not. If it'll keep her safe, she'll do it whether she wants to or not. Let us handle it. It'll settle down," Abel tells him. "I'm gonna go upstairs."

As Ava comes out of her shower, Abel is sitting on the edge of her bed looking through his phone.

"Hey, you and Luke make up?" She laughs sitting on the bed next to him. Taking a pillow, she places it on her lap and rests her arms on it.

"Don't worry about it. Listen, I'm going with the guys to help out Kale. I won't be here so I need you to let the guys watch over you. They'll drive you to school and pick you up. I want you at the clubhouse as much as possible even though you can't sleep there." Abel tells her kicking off his black Vans.

"I'm safe here with Luke. Baby, you have to understand that my uncle won't just take a step back and let you take over. He gets that my life is my life, but he has been taking care of me since forever." She tells him putting her hand on his.

"I'm responsible for what happens to you. We're together and it falls on me. Some of the guys will still watch over you while I'm gone. Can you at least stay in Charming until I get back?" he asks her pulling both of them back to lie down.

"I have school and work. I can't leave. Luke's orders. Abel, how long are you gonna be gone?" She asks him.

"I don't know. We're gonna leave tomorrow so at least a week. With Garrett and Clyte, they are a part of this group out of Oregon. They're part of the fishing businesses along the coast and they transport arms through Canada up the coast. We've known about the group for a long time, but we never got involved with them. They got some heat from ATF and business has gone south. That's all I can say," He tells her placing his hand on her hip.

"Whatever I can do to help, I'm here. It's like you said, things'll settle down." She says moving close to him and falling asleep.

_The Next Day…_

Getting through junior year was the hardest year for Ava. It's hard to concentrate when there are other things that are more important that solving a trig problem. Walking out after the final bell rang, Ava sees Abel's truck, but not Abel behind the wheel.

"Let me guess. You're my chaperone." She says getting into the truck and looking at Ricky.

"Hello to you too. How's life?" He asks her shooting her a grin.

"It's life. You know, crazy Canadians and all." She tells him. "I gotta go to work."

"No problem. I'm at your service for the remaining future." He tells her laughing.

"All right," She tells him. As they are driving to her work, they see a progression of bikers driving by with Tacoma cuts.

"I have a feeling Charming is gonna be filled to capacity real soon," She tells him and they both laugh.

_Few hours later at Clifton's_

"Ava, there's a customer asking for you." Clif tells her pulling her out from the back storage.

"Going," Ava says walking to the front of the store. At the counter were three MC members she's never seen before and one woman.

"Hi, I'm Ava. Can I help you?" She asks seeing Tacoma cuts.

"Hey, I'm Vanessa. I need to pick up some stuff and Gemma said see you," Vanessa tells her handing her a piece of paper with two items on it. Telling her she'll be right back with the items, Ava goes in the back and gets the pain relief medicine and pack of needles that are written on the paper.

"Would that be all for you?" Ava asks ringing up the two items.

"Yeah, that's it." Vanessa, noticing the guys walk towards the candy aisle, looks at Ava curiously.

"Is something wrong?" Ava asks seeing Vanessa look at her.

"You're Abel's girl, huh?" She says handing her the money.

"Yeah, I am. Why?" Ava tells her handing her the change.

"No reason. Just wanted to meet the newest addition to the club, that's all," Vanessa says laughing at her.

"Yeah, that's me," Ava says seeing the guys start to walk out the store.

"Well, I'll be seeing you around, Ava," Vanessa says walking out putting her sunglasses on.

Seeing them drive away, Ava tries to remember if Abel ever mentioned Vanessa before. As she goes into the back, she remembers what Vanessa came to pick up. Tara has all the medical supplies. Why do they need more?

Her phone rings and she hopes its Abel. He told her before he left he would contact her, not the other way around. Looking at the screen, she sees its Gemma.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, how are you?" Gemma asks out of the blue._

"Fine, I guess. Gemma, is anything wrong?" Ava asks worried.

"_What? I can't call and see how you're doing?" She asks laughing._

"No, its..everything's okay considering." Ava replies.

"_Just go with it, honey. Don't spend all your time stressing over what you can't control. Listen, some shit went down. Abel will call when he can, but until then, just do what he told you to do. It'll be a while. It's a long waiting game, Ava. He needs your support here and you need to keep yourself together. He can't worry about you and do what he's doing at the same time," Gemma tells her._

"I know. And thanks, Gemma. Hearing it from you helps a lot," Ava says.

_Oregon Clubhouse…_

"What the fuck happened?" Tacoma Treasurer Tyler asks putting gaze over the bullet wound in Abel's lower side to stop the bleeding.

"Asshole snuck up behind us. Got him before we could shoot him down," Quinn replies taking a swing of whiskey.

"Hey, how's he doing?" Kozik asks coming into the back room at the clubhouse.

"Shit don't look good, not at all," Tyler replies giving Abel a shot of medicine to stop any infections.

"The job's done and we got the information out of one of the workers. Kale's shipment is all set. I called Jax and caught him up. He wants Abel kept here at the clubhouse. If we can't help him, we gotta take him to the hospital," Kozik tells them.

"Shit! He's lost a lot of blood." Tyler exclaims working hard to stop the bleeding.

"The bleeding is at a minimum. It'll stop completely within a few minutes, but he's already lost a lot of blood. I say we give him two hours. If his color and temp don't improve, we gotta get him to the hospital." Tyler says feeling Abel's pulse.

_Charming Clubhouse…_

"Jesus Christ." Jax says smoking his cigarette sitting in his room at the clubhouse. Waiting for Tara to come in, he thinks of how to tell his wife her son may not come home.

"Jax, hey." Tara says coming in and going to stand in between his legs. "I know that look. What's wrong?"

"Abel was shot. He's alive, but Tacoma's medic says Abel's not out of the woods yet," Jax tells her pulling her into his lap.

"We need to go up there. He needs us," Tara tells him placing her hands on his shoulders.

"We can't draw attention. The job they did pissed off a lot of people. We can't move around so much yet," Jax tells her having to let her out of his hands when she gets up and starts pacing the room.

"He's our son. Jax, this is bullshit. He was shot!" Tara tells him placing her hand over her heart.

"He's safe up there. If he gets any worse, they'll take him to the hospital. Shit, I love too, but keeping everything calm is the best thing right now. It draws attention away from us." Jax tells her calmly.

"What do we tell Ava? She deserves to know," She asks him going back to sit in his lap. Her legs are around his waist and she lays her head on his shoulder.

"I don't want to tell her anything until we know that he's out of the woods. It'll make it easier on her." Jax tells her running his hand up her back.

"I can't lose him," Tara whispers in his ear.

"He's survived through hell before he was old enough to walk. He'll get through this." He tells her kissing her trying to assure her that their son will be fine.

* * *

Hey, guys! LOl here's the next part. Hope u like :) As always, reviews are much appreciated!


	16. Chapter 15

Four days later, there's been no word from Abel and she hopes that, by itself, is good news. Sitting outside on her porch, Ava looks out at Luke washing his truck. She feels frustrated. Nobody would tell her any anything. Tara came by her work earlier to buy some supplies, but Ava had a feeling it was to check up on her instead. All of this damn waiting was driving her crazy. Sitting on the porch, Ava starts thinking up a list of what she can do to keep busy. The nights are the worst though. Even though he's only been gone four days, it's like the world outside of the MC is closing in. Ava's not sure she wants to get adjusted to a world outside of Abel's. Most would find Abel's life out of the norm, downright wrong, but it's a consistent life where the laws and rules stay the same. Everyone knows what's expected of them. These rules and consistencies have drawn her in, even if she's still new to everything.

"Ava!" Luke yells for her.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to go down to Teller-Morrow Garage. Some parts came in today." Luke tells her handing her a receipt and order form.

"What do you need all this shit for? You building a damn muscle car or something?" Ava asks back looking at the long order list.

"Gotta change some shit in the truck, that's all. Go on. Quit moping around here, girl."

"I'm not goddamn moping! Agh! Damn! I'll get the frickin' parts," She bites back and gets in the car.

After getting to the garage and parking the car, Ava goes to the office. Walking up, she sees Opie and Jax walking out.

"Hey, doll," Opie tells her giving her a grin before walking back to work.

"How ya been?" Jax asks her seeing the frustrated look on her face.

"I'm okay… I know I'm not supposed to ask, but how are things?" Ava asks slowly not trying to make him mad, but four days with nothing from anybody was bullshit. She was his girl, maybe not tattooed yet, but he still claimed her.

"It'll be fine," He tells her giving her a kiss on the cheek and starts to walk away.

"What the hell does that mean? Jesus Christ, it's a yes or no," She yells back at him. Seeing how his face got mad, Ava knew she was pushing her luck.

"Don't overstep boundaries, Ava. Waitings what you're gonna do for however long your ass has to." And with that, he walks away. With the way Jax has been acting and everyone so quiet and tense, Ava had a feeling something went wrong. Jax could and would lie to her and tell her Abel was fine if it got her to stop asking questions.

"Ava? You got Luke's order form?" Ava turned back towards the office and saw Donna. Donna's been covering the office with Gemma for a while now. Looking at her questioning eyes, Ava got an idea. Not the best idea, but since nobody would tell her anything, she figured she'd do through with it anyway.

"Yeah, I got it." Handing it to her, Donna motioned her to come sit inside after getting one of the mechanics to get the packages into the back of Ava's car.

"I saw you talking to Jax out there. You get used to the waiting, honey. You learn to occupy yourself with other shit. Took me a while to come to terms with everything, but you can never forget that these men, no matter what generation, live by their own time. Even if it's a shitty deal for the pussy they come home to. Don't press any of the brothers for news, it don't work that way. If Abel's your man and he accepts you as his girl, anything you need to know will come directly from him all in good time," Donna tells her from experience.

"Thanks. None of this shit is written down anywhere, like a constitution for the old ladies. I feel like I'm swimming against the current some days," Ava says.

"It'll ease up, honey. Eventually. And as far as our own constitution, the Sons wouldn't make it that easy for us. They like setting us straight." Donna laughs.

"What do you mean?" Ava asks curiously.

"One day, Abel'll show you. When he does, you just gotta know when to take it and give in, and when to fight back. Support him when he gets back, don't add onto his problems. There's a reason some Old Ladies don't last long. There's also a reason why some Sons prefer certain crow eaters. Accept what and who he is, but respect yourself enough to give back just as good as he gives you. You'll find a balance. We all do." She tells her.

"Thanks, Donna. I really appreciate it," Ava says giving her a hug and walking out.

"Ava!" Maddie and Zoey call out walking up to her. Both are giggling.

"What's up?" Ava asks starting to laugh with them.

"Life, baby. You got plans for today?" Zoey asks.

"I gotta stop home and drop some parts off. I don't know afterwards," Ava says lacing her two arms in between the other two girls. Seeing the hickey on the side of Maddie's neck, Ava gasps out loud.

"Well, look who got some. I guess Dean's doing his job right," Ava replies laughing as Maddie slaps her arm.

"Don't. I've had to avoid my dad like the plague. He hasn't seen it yet. Dean came over this morning after dad left." Maddie tells them. All three girls laugh as they get in the car. Driving home with them gave Ava just what she needed to not spend every second worrying about shit she could do nothing about.

When they got home, all three went up to Ava's room to watch movies and have a couple beers. Zoey and Ava lay on the bed while Maddie was looking at some of the new clothes Ava bought recently.

"This would look gorgeous if I didn't know my brother saw you in it," Maddie says pulling out a white, laced see-through babydoll lingerie gown by the hanger.

"Oh, that's Abel's favorite" Ava replies laughing really loud when she sees the look on Maddie's face as she puts the hanger back up.

Hearing her phone ring, Ava looks over at the night stand and sees Abel on the caller ID.

"It's Abel." Ava says. "Abel?"

"Ava, baby!" Ava heard on the other line. Abel's voice was slurred, very drunk.

"You're drunk? I've been worrying my ass off over you and you're fucking drinking?" Ava screams in the phone. Maddie goes to stand by her, but she pushes her away when she hears the sound of a girl's giggle through the phone.

"Don't worry, honey. I got him all taken care of," the girl who couldn't stop giggling over the phone before she hung up.

Ava stood there frozen for a moment….


	17. Chapter 16

After kicking everyone out of her house, Ava lay down in the middle of her room and thought about the girl with Abel. She and Abel never discussed the trips he goes on. They don't talk about the crow-eaters in Charming or the crow-eaters in any other charter. Ava just assumed their relationship was monogamous. It wasn't an illogical assumption. Looking over to her window, she sees the sun is going down.

"Ava?" Luke said through the door.

"Yeah?" She answered back.

"I'm heading out. Order some pizza or something for dinner. Moneys on the counter," Luke says.

"Okay," She says getting up and pulling the blinds over her window. Deciding to go for a walk, Ava grabs her black hoodie. Leaving Luke a note not to worry if she's not back by the time he is, she locks up and purposefully leaves her phone on the counter. Not many people were out tonight as most of her neighbors settle down and have dinner around 7. Being out this late alone was not a smart idea and Ava knew it. She promised Ricky she would call him if she wanted to go anywhere, but since all she wanted to do was take a walk and Ricky had some club things to do, Ava decided against it. Besides, she didn't want to be around people tonight.

She feels the chill of the night and folds her arms across her chest. She can't believe she's out walking while the guy she's in love with is cheating on her two states away at this very moment. She starts to cry but quickly pulls herself together when a minivan pulls up on the street slowing down to keep up with her.

"HI, Ava," Steve Clyte says from his newly got car.

"What the hell do you want?" She says coldly and continues walking. She looks around and sees a full diner up ahead. She hopes Clyte isn't stupid enough to try something so close to other people.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. It's dark out here by yourself. I went through some of Garrett's stuff here in Charming. He left something for you," He tells her picking up a thick yellow envelope from the passenger seat.

"I don't want it. Keep driving," She tells him.

"You really should have a look. He was adamant in making sure you get it. Now either you get over here and take this or I'm gonna make things very difficult for you. No matter what your boyfriend does, I'm gonna get to you," He tells her checking her out and making sure she knows it.

"Why won't you leave me alone? I've got nothing to do with the club," Ava tells him not sure she could go ten rounds with anyone right now.

"That's a separate issue, honey. You and I are more personal. Now, get over here." He tells her.

She gets closer to the car and just as she's close to the door, he pulls the package closer to him and out of her reach.

"I'm here. Now, let me have it." She tells him.

"Come in the car and get it," He tells her.

"This is bullshit," She says turning away from the car when she feels a sharp sting in her side. Looking down right above her hip was bleeding. She looks back at Clyte and he's right in front of her out of his car pointing a gun with a silencer on at her.

"I told you," He tells her. She starts to scream but he punches her so hard she becomes lightheaded. She feels herself falling and he catches her opening the back door to lay her down. Trying to pick up her hand to her face, she sees the blood and turns her head before she loses consciousness.

_The next day late in the afternoon…_

"Ava, wherever the hell you are, get back her before Abel does," Ricky says to himself leaving Luke's house. Ricky was supposed to pick her up and drive her to school, but Luke told him she probably took a trip to see Maxie. Ricky just didn't like the fact that she left her phone here.

_Clubhouse_

"Tonight's the night," Abel tells Trevor when he stops at the gas station in Charming to fuel up his bike. He, Trevor, and the rest of the guys had to come a day early home when they got the call that Clay was stepping down tonight.

"It's time. Jax has been the one leading the past few years anyway. Clay just wasn't ready to give it up. it's just a miracle his hands have lasted as long as they have," Trevor says opening up a bag of peanut M&Ms. "You call Maddie back yet?"

"Hell, no. Shit, I don't even know where to start with that shit," Abel says trying to laugh it off, but the laugh was forced. He fucked up huge last night. Regardless of the fact that he got drunk to numb the pain of being shot, he still let some chick blow him. He and Ava haven't agreed on what is allowed on the runs. This was one of the first runs that took longer than two days. And he knew even if it wasn't actual sex, a blowjob was just as bad. His phone rings and it's his old man.

"Hey, pops," Abel says.

"_Get here. Your mother's nervous," _Jax tells him laughing. Abel smiles when he hears Tara call him an asshole.

"Will do, Prez," Abel says hanging up.

Getting to the clubhouse, both boys notice it's pretty locked down. No girls or extra mechanics around. He sees Ricky cleaning some tools.

"Hey, Ricky! You dropped Ava off to school?" Abel says pulling out a smoke.

"No. I went to her house and he said she sent him an email saying she was staying the weekend at a friend's house," Ricky told him putting down the rag.

"Which friend?" Trevor asks.

"Some girl name Amy. Luke said she's a friend from her old high school. She left her phone at Luke's place though so I can't get in touch with her," He tells them.

All three look over at the entrance to the clubhouse as Tara comes out giving some guys orders on where to put the boxes of alcohol sitting outside.

"When'd she leave?" Abel asks.

"Last night. She left a note and told Luke. Luke says it's fine," Ricky tells them.

"All right, thanks, man." Abel says walking over to his mother.

"Hey, ma. How's it going?" He says pulling her into a hug.

"Are you all right?" She says looking over him.

"Good as new. I promise. It's all right," He tells her holding her hand and looking down at her wedding rings. "I hear your husband's an asshole."

"Yeah, yeah. I heard about a certain girl in Tacoma," Tara tells her son seeing the playfulness leave him.

"You're my mother, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. It was a blowjob, that's all. I'll fix it," He tells her.

"Blowjob, pussy, ass, to some girls, it's all the same, Abel. What are you gonna do?" She says rubbing her hand across his back in comfort.

"Right now, I'm gonna watch my father get patched in as the head of the Reaper. He deserves my support," Abel tells his mom pushing Ava to the back of his mind until he knows how to fix it and when she gets back in town. He's man enough to admit that he's bothered he has no clue about any Amy or where Amy lives.

"Let's get this done, huh?" Abel says walking inside.

_Later that night_….

The church doors open and Clay walks out with his patch stripped. Jackson Teller walks out with a new patch on his cut. Opie follows right behind Jax with a V.P. patch on his cut. There's a sense of security in the room now. Clay's time is done. It's time for the Teller's to lead their club again. Abel grabs two beers from Vanessa and hands one to his president. Both generations toast and pull into a hug slapping each other on the back.

_Out in the dessert, Clyte takes a black garbage bag and adds lighter fluid on it. Standing back to watch the bag burn, he laughs out loud and pulls a smug, satisfied grin on his face. _

_He looks over to the back of the van and grabs the rest of the bleach to clean out all the fluid left over from last night._

* * *

Hi, guys. We're getting really close to my favorite scene coming up. I know it's been forever since an update has come, but here it is anyway. Please, please review! I wanna know how you guys are liking it. Thanks! BTW I've already started writing the next chapter and expect an update by Tuesday.


	18. Chapter 17

Three days later, Ava found herself hunched over the toilet forcing herself to throw up everything Clyte made her eat. She hasn't been alert much since he brought her here. She knows he's drugging her and the drugs knock her out for hours at a time. Laying down on the floor, this afternoon, if it was afternoon, was the first time he left her immediately after he forced her to drink and eat what he brought her. Every other time, he stuck around until after the drugs kicked in and she was weak. Only then, did he leave. She turns her head and sees the bruises up and down her arms.

"Get up, Ava," She tells herself trying to get the energy to move. She puts her hand on the tub and pulls herself up. At least it was better than crawling back out of the bathroom. She gets up on her two feet wobbly and looks at the bedroom and feels the urge to throw up all over again.

After washing her mouth out, she looks at herself in the mirror. She looks like a dark and blue discolored mess. She felt like there wasn't a piece of her that wasn't swollen or bruised. Picking up the shirt Clyte brought her to wear, she looked at the gunshot wound that was infected again. Clyte poured cleaning alcohol on the wound but that was it.

She looks outside the curtains carefully and sees the sun high up. The place doesn't look familiar though. she walks back to the dressers and tries to find some clue as to wear she is. She sees a receipt in between the bed and dresser. The receipt is from Lodi.

"Shit," Ava says knowing she needs to get out and somewhere safe before Clyte comes back.

She sees a long van pull up into the parking space in front of the next room. It's a van with a Christian Church logo on the side, and although she looks like shit, she knows there's safety in numbers. She puts on the sweats Clyte brought for himself and left here and although Ava hates wearing one more thing of his, beggars can't be choosers. Ava walks out into the sun for the first time and she shields her eyes from the sun.

"Young lady, are you okay?" An old woman from the van comes up to her.

"Yeah, just, yeah. Um, I know this is weird, but do you happen to have a pair of pants or sweats on you I could wear?" Ava asks calmly.

"We're dropping off some clothes to the shelter by our church. I can give you a pair, but if you want, we can give you a ride to the church too. A lot of people find a lot of help from the church. I'm Melissa," the older woman says all motherly like.

"Allison," Ava says lying. "And yes, I would love a ride, thanks."

Melissa introduces Ava to the other shelter volunteers and they all tell her that God will help her if she reaches out and accepts him. Yeah, right, Ava says in her head sitting in the van. The sun is so bright today and Ava wonders if there is a God, why didn't he help her…

Pulling up to the church, Ava thanks them and says she's gonna sit inside the church for a bit. Going inside, Ava wonders how long it's been since she's been in a church. She walks to the left up behind the main rows to the stairs. She walks up and sits in the back where it's dark. She pulls her knees up to her chin and rests her head. And as hard as she tries, she can't stop the tears that fall as she looks up at the figure the world calls God.

_Charming, California_

"This is insanity," Jax says watching Abel go yet another ten rounds in the ring. He already beat out Benny. Now, he's up against Chibs. Ava still hasn't gotten back. There's been no outward reaction from Abel, but Jax knew his son. Abel was freaking out that there's been no word from her. Maddie hasn't heard from her and Trevor said she hasn't even called Maxie.

"How's he doing?" Tara says coming up by him. She just finished her shift and didn't go home to change yet.

"He ain't saying much. I figure let him get it out of his system here where we can watch him rather than somewhere where he's tempted to do something that'll put him in jail," Jax says giving her a kiss on the cheek before getting closer to the ring. "There's been no sighting of Clyte either."

"You think he's done something?" She asks wondering.

"Luke said he heard from her via email, but nothing over the phone. He also says it's normal for her to keep in touch with email. She likes modern technology," Jax says letting out a chuckle.

"Do we know where her friend is?" Tara says watching Trevor separate Abel and Chibs. Chibs is winning, but Abel's getting inventive with his attacks.

"No, that's the kicker. Maxie only heard Ava mention a Amy once or twice. Nothing to show that Ava's close with her." Jax says.

"Maybe she wanted something different, a different place for a while away from the normal everyday. After Abel and the Tacoma girl, it's not hard to believe. Ava likes her space and doesn't mind traveling," she responds leaning into Jax a bit more when Chibs hits Abel's side where he was shot.

"Yeah, maybe," Jax says but he didn't sound sure. "What if she doesn't want to come back? What's he gonna do?"

"What did you do when I left, Jax? He's exactly like you when someone hurts you," Tara says.

"Luke's given her too much freeway. If and when she gets back, until this shit with the Dirt-Riders stabilizes and our Clyte problem gets resolved, I shit you not I'm gonna ground her myself if for no other reason than to snap Abel out of this shit. He can't be distracted now," Jax says knowing it's wrong, but also knowing that he can't give Abel the time he needs to sort himself out.

_Miles away…_

Ava left the church and got new clothes dumping her old ones in a dumpster behind the church. Melissa stopped by with the clothes when she walked out the side entrance from the church. When she put the clothes on, she found an envelope in her denim jacket pocket. There was a fifty dollar bill in there and a note from Melissa wishing her well.

Ava got a meal from the shelter. It wasn't the best stew ever cooked, but it wasn't drugged and Ava felt much better after getting food in her system. Next on the list is finding a way to get back to Charming undetected. Asking a volunteer if they have a phone she can use, she goes into the back office and calls Luke.

"_Hello?" _Luke says picking up on the second ring.

"Hello? Hi..it's me," Ava says avoiding saying his name.

"Ava! You know, I know you like this email thing, but I got a new rule for you. You call me at least once when you get wherever you're going. Email's annoying as shit," Luke tells her laughing.

"Yeah, will do. I need your help," Ava tells him trying not to let her emotions show in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Luke asks.

"I need you to get me. I can't talk long, but I'm in Lodi," She tells him and gives him the address of the shelter. "Hey, um, I need you to come now. I can't really explain over the phone, but just come, okay? And come alone. Don't bring anybody else, especially not Abel."

"Ava, you're worrying me here. what's going on? Is it Clyte? Did he get to you?" Luke says and she hears him open the door in the house.

"Please…just come and come fast. I really need you," Ava says and her voice cracks a bit.

Few hours later, Ava sees Luke's truck pull up right in front of the shelter and she runs outside and gets in his truck before he can get out.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to you? Was it Clyte? Goddamm it," Luke says and pulls her into his arms as she starts to cry. He looks at her face and sees the bruises going down her shirt as well. "What did he do to you, baby?"

"I'll be okay. I will, but we need to leave. I snuck away while he was out," Ava says motioning for him to start driving.

"He got you when I went out. Shit, the emails and Amy. You told me about Amy once and I never thought…" Luke says trying to control his anger and keep himself from letting the guilt eat him right now. he'll think about himself when he gets his niece home and safe.

"I went for a walk, and he got to me," Ava says leaving it at that and resting her head on the seat.

"Baby, are you okay?" Luke says looking over to her needing to know if she needs to go to the hospital.

"Just bruises and a few scratches. I'll heal, just..let's go home. I don't wanna be anywhere else except the house," She tells him and looks outside at the setting sun.

"We need to call Abel, let him know." Luke says trying to figure out if she's downplaying her injuries.

"No!" She yells back. "There's nothing he can do now. There's nothing anyone can do now."

"Your wrist is bleeding," Luke tells her calmly. Her wrists have a gash all around them, like she was tied up.

"It'll stop," Ava says pulling the jacket over her hands.

_Clyte_

"We'll be ready to strike tomorrow_._ Sons are preoccupied. All I need is.._" _Clyte tells his boss over the phone. Clyte's at the harbor in Charming overlooking a ship pulling into the docks.

"_I don't care about specifics. You told me you could get California. Make it happen. And Clyte, no mistake. We can't draw attention to ourselves," _His boss says on the other side. 

"Yes, sir," Clyte responds hanging up. He walks up to the boat when it docks and waves down a ship worker. "How fast can you unload?"

"Unload? We're here to pick up. We didn't get anything to ship down," the guys responds.

"You weren't loaded? You came out of Warrenton with nothing?" Clyte says pissed off.

"There was nothing there. Port commissioner said nothing was there," The worker says.

"Did he, really?" Clyte says walking away and calling the commissioner. After finishing the call, Clyte was convinced that somehow, the Sons intercepted his shipment that was meant for Warrenton. Pure anger sets in and he kicks over bucks on the dock into the water trying to figure out how to tell his boss he can't deliver a solid port from California. He's also trying to figure out how to tell his boss that he lost the biggest shipment of guns they've had in a while to an MC club he pissed off.

Going back to the hotel, Clyte decides it's time for a little bargaining suggestion to the Sons. He had all the fun he's going to get with Ava. Hopefully, by the time he returns Ava to Charming, she'll get used to the drugs and want more. If that happens, Clyte wouldn't mind keeping Ava. The young girl is quite a sight to look at, feels damn good too. He didn't plan on letting Ava go alive, but with present events as they are, he'll have to use Ava to get his guns back. Maybe if Abel's desperate enough, the new president may finally decide to share some of their guns with Clyte's group.

Walking into the hotel room, he finds Ava's not on the bed. She's nowhere to be found.

"Goddamn bitch!" He yells out throwing the lamp. He's lost his bargaining trip and possibly any chance he's got of appeasing his boss.

_Luke's house…_

Luke parks in the garage to give Ava the privacy she needs. He helps her out of the car and he sees her shirt on the side is stained.

"Your side is bleeding," He says getting inside and helping her sit at the kitchen table. He grabs the first aid kit from the bottom drawer in the kitchen. Luke's not much of an organizer, but Ava always said medical supplies aren't things that should be left all over the place.

"Come on, honey. let me look at you," Luke says helping take off her jacket. He sees the bruises and cuts all over her. "What happened to your side?"

"He shot me. That's how he was able to get me. He had a silencer on. Bastard was smart too. He made sure the bullet grazed me so it wasn't a fatal hit. It won't stop bleeding though," Ava says gripping the chair when he starts cleaning out the wound.

"It's infected and the wound is torn probably by moving around," Luke says and Ava thinks about how hard she fought against Clyte and how much harder he fought her back.

"It'll be fine. I need to shower so you can wrap it up after. It'll just fall off," Ava says lowering the shirt.

"Are you bleeding anywhere else? Ava, Clyte didn't…he didn't…?" Luke says hinting about rape, but knowing the answer scares the shit out of him.

"What, rape? No worries there, Luke," Ava says taking the gazes and cleaning supplies and going upstairs.

"I'll get you something to eat, huh? The blinds are closed in your room so no one can see inside. I'll put up a dark curtain so no light goes through," Luke says helping her up. He lets out a sigh of relief and gives her a kiss on the forehead. "Whatever you want to do, we'll do it. You don't want Abel to know, that's fine. But these bruises won't go away overnight. What about school? I can call the office and pull you out for a while, you can do your work here."

"Yeah, that'll be good. Thanks, Luke," Ava says leaving him to go into the bathroom. Neither turned on the lights yet.

She closes the bathroom door and drops everything on the counter. She turns on the water as hot as it will go and takes off her pants. She grimaces when she feels the cloth rub over the deep cut on the inside of her thigh. She found some medical supplies when she was at the shelter and figured the wound in her thigh was more important than her side since the pants would rub against it whenever she moves. Clyte may not have raped her, but he was close. He even let Ava know how he was gonna do it when he griped her thighs and started cutting her.

"Hey, Luke?" Ava asks through the door.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna need some vitamin E capsules," She tells him.

"All right, I'll get it when I pick up some medicine for the infection," He tells her.

"And Luke?" Ava asks cautiously.

"Yeah, honey?" He replies.

"Don't leave until I get out, okay?" She tells him.

"I won't, Ava. I promise, baby. You won't be left alone ever again," He says clearing his throat.


	19. Chapter 18

After she gets out of the shower and they bandage up her wounds, Ava starts getting tremors and sweating really bad. She finally breaks down and tells him Clyte drugged her the whole time he had her.

"I'll kill him, I swear I will," He seethes but tries to get her to see reason. "We need to get you to the hospital. Ava, we need to get you checked out. The drugs can cause serious damage."

"It was only for three days and he put it in my food. When he left, I threw it all up so it'll just take a little while and then it'll get better. I'm not going to the hospital. I don't want anyone to know," Ava says turning around in the bed on her side away from Luke.

"Okay, but if this doesn't stop in a few days, I'm taking you willingly or not. While you were in the shower, I put the gun in your desk. I already called Tara for the medic," He starts to say.

"You called Abel's mother?" She says turning around to look at him.

"I told her it was for a friend at work who had an accident and he can't cover the cost. She's gonna come over here tonight. I cleaned up downstairs and there's no sign that you've been here. All you need to do is rest up. I've got some soup cooking downstairs. I respect your decision not to let them know, but you need to relax, baby. Get some sleep and we'll figure out where to go from here in the morning. I also checked all the windows and doors in the house. If that bastard tries anything, alarm will ring and I'll shoot his ass dead," Luke tells her not joking one bit. She sees he changed into a new gray, plaid, short sleeve shirt probably to get rid of the bloodied up one.

"Okay, get rid of her fast," Ava tells him hearing the doorbell ring downstairs.

_Downstairs…_

"Hey, Luke. how's it going?" Tara says when he opens the door.

"It's going pretty good. It's quiet without a teenager in the house," he tells her grinning.

"I don't have much, but I hope this is enough," She says pulling out a small pill bottle.

"That's more than enough. Thanks for doing this. I owe you one," Luke says taking the bottle and putting it in his back pocket.

"You can repay me by answering me something," Tara says following Luke into the kitchen where he checks on the soup.

"What's that, darling?" He replies avoiding her stare.

"Convince Ava to talk to Abel," Tara tells him.

"What Ava does or does not do with Abel is all on her. I won't control that. It's her relationship and all I can do is be there for her if she needs me," He tells her but for the first time in all of Ava's 17 years of age, he doesn't believe doing things her way is the best thing.

"It was a blowjob and he feels like shit about it," Tara tells him in a rational tone. Hearing that, Luke is glad he's turned away from her because he can hide the look of shock on his face. He had no idea Abel cheated on his niece, not that he's all that surprised really.

"Like I said, it's all up to Ava, but I will talk to her. See if she can at least call him," Luke says turning off the soup.

"When's she coming back from Amy's house?" Tara asks trying to find out where Amy lives.

"Ava's gonna do home-schooling for a week or two. She thought that it would be better until things settle down with the whole Clyte mess. She'll be back, she's just taking some time to reconnect with some friends outside of Charming, that's all," Luke replies.

"It's the beginning of the school year," Tara tells him thinking it's an awful strange time to take a vacation since summer break ended recently.

"Ava's unconventional. She gets into these moods where she just wants to do something else," Luke says.

Tara stands looking at him and knows he's hiding something.

"Do you mind if I see Ava's room?" Tara asks suspiciously pulling her hair behind her ear.

"Why?" Luke asks.

"She's my son's girlfriend. I'm curious," Tara says watching him open the garbage lid and throw some hand towels away. She's sees opened up gazes sticking out that have been used recently.

"Ava likes her privacy. I'll be sure to let her know you asked though. By the way, she may or may not still be Abel's girlfriend after his stunt," Luke tells her.

"We'll see," Tara says and starts to walk back to the front of the house. They say their goodbyes and Luke keeps watching her until she gets in her car and drives away. He locks the door and makes sure Ava gets everything she needs.

_The next Morning….._

The next morning, Luke called Abel and told him he heard from Ava. He covered for her and told Abel she was fine. She was just staying with some friends. Abel asked him when she was coming back and he told him exactly what he told Tara.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Ava was just waking up. Last night was plagued with shakes and shivers as the nightmares came. Once, she even screamed out loud and Luke came rushing in. She opens her eyes and its pitch black except for the light coming in from the hallway. She hears the thunderstorm going on outside and the rain on her window is like a rake just constantly scratching. She drags herself out of bed to use the bathroom and change her bandages.

She comes back out and notices her phone on the night stand. She goes through her missed calls and messages and sees half of them are from Abel. She rushes back into the bathroom and looks in the mirror wondering how long she can put off seeing anybody. She has to go to school eventually. Luke can only buy her so much time before she either goes back or pulls out from Charming High indefinitely and considers homeschool.

A new message comes in and she sees its from Maddie.

_I don't know where you are or even if you have your phone, but we need to know you're okay. Abel's worried and regardless of what he did, my brother loves you. You're compassionate enough to just let him hear from you that you're okay. We miss you, honey._

"Shit," Ava says to herself.

She walks out of her room quietly and notices the blinds in the hallway are closed with a curtain pulled across. She quietly goes down the steps planting one palm on the wall to keep her balance. She gets downstairs and sees Luke already up.

"Morning," Ava says coming into the low-lit kitchen.

"Hey, sweetie. How you feeling?" He asks her giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Better. I feel human again," She says and they both crack a smile.

"Abel cheated on you," Luke says breaking the peace in the room.

"Yeah, he did, I guess. How's you find out?" Ava asks knowing she didn't tell him.

"When Tara came over, she said I should convince you to talk to him. She said he feels real guilty. Although she also said it was just a blowjob," Luke tells her watching her walk over to the table and sit down with her legs picked up on the edge of the seat.

"Blowjob, huh? Isn't that considerate of him," Ava says in a sarcastic tone.

"What are you gonna do? He'll come over here and he'll ask about you. They all will. You gonna hide in your room for the next few weeks or until you heal up?" Luke asks her taking a drink of his coffee.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do. What do you think I should do? Besides go to the hospital which isn't necessary?" Ava asks starting to chew on her thumb nail.

"Talk to Abel, sort this shit out. Tell him what happened because Clyte's not gonna stop. Who knows? Maybe next time to piss Abel and the Sons off, he'll go after Maddie," Luke says seriously.

"That can't happen," Ava replies with tears forming in her eyes.

"Then you tell Abel. The cheating issue needs to be put aside for now. Your safety has to come first," Luke says going up to bring her some breakfast.

Later, just as Luke was getting ready for work, Maddie pull into the driveway in her Volkswagen beetle. She knocks rapidly on the door and rushes inside the house as soon as he opens the door. Luke has no time to stop her.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, but it's pouring outside as you can see, and…holy shit, Ava?" Maddie says facing the kitchen table.

"Hey," Ava says softly knowing what Luke said was all true and this is much bigger than her and Abel.

"Oh my God, what happened to you?" Maddie says looking her up and down.

"Clyte happened," Luke chimes in and decides to grab a beer.

"Is this where you've been? This whole time? Ava, we need to get you to a hospital. My mom can check you out," Maddies says pulling out her phone.

"No! No. I'm okay, I don't need the hospital so just take a breath," Ava says taking the phone away from her.

"Take a breath? The lunatic took you and beat you to a pulp. Take a breath? My mom came over last night, did you tell her?" Maddie asks looking at both of them.

"No, Ava got away yesterday. She needed some time before she told everyone," Luke chimes in again receiving a glare from Ava.

"I'm okay, just bruises and scratches. I'll heal," Ava says. "I didn't want everyone here last night."

"We need to tell Abel. He's not doing all that well with not knowing where you are," Maddie says rubbing Ava's leg in comfort.

"He knows where I am. I'm with Amy, and that's what he's gonna know until I decide what and when to say. I just need today to figure it out. I'll call him later," Ava compromises.

"They need to know, now," Maddie says strongly.

"I just need some time to figure out what I'm gonna say and I just need some time before everything gets crazy. I'm not ready for any Dr. Phil moments just yet," Ava says getting up slowly and going to lay out on the couch.

"What did he do?" Maddie says coming up behind her. Ava looks up at the ceiling and tells her that he did nothing she can't move on from.

"Did he try to touch you-?" Maddie says not sure of how to put it any easier.

"No," Ava says turning the TV on and flipping through channels.

_Outside, Abel drives down the street and sees his sister's car in Luke's driveway._

Parking his truck, he gets to the porch and rings the doorbell and Luke tells the girls it's Abel after looking through the curtain.

"You need to talk to him now. Waiting won't change anything. He knows I'm here and he won't go away," Maddie tries to convince her.

Ava puts her hands over her face trying to drown everything out if only for a second before the doorbell rings again.

"This is so not how I planned this day to go," Ava says to herself. Abel's gone from ringing the doorbell to banging on the door. "Jesus Christ, I'm coming already!"

Ava gets up fast and clutches her side.

"Ava, easy, babe," Luke says helping stabilize her.

"What's wrong with her side?" Maddie asks worrying.

"Clyte shot her," Luke says picking up her shirt to see if there was a lot of bleeding still occurring.

"Oh, man. Ava, your whole side looks really bad," Maddie says looking at the bruises on her rib cage.

"Yeah, who you telling?" Ava tells her. "Okay. Luke, you need to go to work and Maddie, you need to leave this house. Do me a favor, don't tell anybody just yet, okay? Let me talk to Abel first."

"Are you gonna be okay with him here alone?" Luke asks her sighing roughly when Abel reverts back to the doorbell again.

"It's fine, really," Ava says walking with all of them to the door.

Ava stays behind out of view of the door and Maddie steps out first before Luke steps out and closes the door behind him.

"What's going on?" Abel says sensing something's happened.

"Ava's inside and before I let you go in, me and you gotta get some rules set. Don't raise your voice at her, don't touch her, and if she tells you to leave, you leave. No questions asked," Luke tells him.

"What the hell do you mean? What happened? Is she okay?" Abel says trying to push through to get at the door.

"Abel listen to him. He's serious," Maddie says placing her hand on his arm.

"Tread carefully, son. She needs you to be careful right now," Luke says opening the door for him and letting him pass.

Abel walks in and calls out her name. He walks into the living room and sees her standing behind the couch.

"Oh my God.." Abel says losing his voice as he sees the girl he loves. He takes a step closer and she moves to the edge of the couch further away from him. "What happened to you, baby?"

"Clyte kidnapped me the night you called me from Tacoma. I went for a walk and he grabbed me. It's just bruises, nothing that won't heal," Ava says thinking she sounds like a record player on replay.

"He's had you this whole time?" Abel asks slowly walking up to her.

"I got away yesterday. I'm fine," Ava tells him looking up thinking she sees tears in his blue eyes.

"You're not fine, Ava. He hurt you. I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry for everything," Abel tells her.

I'm not standing here to punish you. This isn't about you cheating," Ava says pushing his hand away when he tries to take hers.

"We need to get you checked out. My mom can come and-"

"No, I don't want to be checked out. I don't need to be. I just need a few weeks for the bruising and swelling to go down. It'll go away," Ava says.

"Did he do anything else? Did he-?"

"Nothing happened. I got out, that's what matters. Now what?" Ava asks sitting slowly down on the couch.

"Tell me what you need, Ava. How can I help you?" Abel asks kneeling down in front of her in shock.

"I don't know, I don't know," Ava tells him honestly. Abel takes her hand and he sees the bruises on her wrist.

"He tied you up?" Abel says pushing her sleeve up.

"It doesn't matter what he did now. I'm here," Ava says. Abel keeps staring at the bruises and he tries to not give into his need to go and kill Clyte right now very slowly and painfully. Abel sits down on the floor in front of her and rubs one hand on her feet and the other is still holding her hand. Ava leans back and closes her eyes focusing on the feel of his hands.

"I love you," He whispers to her. "I love you, and I'll make sure he never gets near you again."

"I love you too," Ava confesses before she turns her head to face the couch.


	20. Chapter 20

_A month later,_

Going back into school mode was an adjustment. Luke convinced the guidance counselor to let her do the rest of the semester online and physically attend school in the spring. School work was a blessing for once in her life. Her relationship with Abel is kinda frozen in place, she was healing physically, but still had a hard time sleeping, and for the first time since Clyte showed his face in Charming, Ava feels like things are getting back to normal. She got a visit a few days ago from Abel. All he said was, "It's done." After that, she took him upstairs to her room and they lay down on her bed smoking pot the entire night.

Given Abel's life, Ava knew better than to ask questions. They don't spend many days together at all, but when the sun goes down, he always ends up on her porch. Their nights aren't physical, but there's a comfortable silence between the two. There's no pressure. They both found it's much better that they don't talk about certain things, like what she went through with Clyte or his infidelity in Tacoma.

Ava looks around at the other kids hanging around the entrance, and thinks of the first time she ever saw Abel Teller in front of the school. Ava turns her head to look out the side view mirror at the truck that pulled up behind Luke's. Abel walks around the front of his truck opening the passenger door and nods at her to come with him. She listens to her heart beat just twice before she starts to get out of the car.

"Luke, I think I'm gonna skip today," Ava says seeing Abel's fingers tap on the hood of his truck.

"Are you sure? Just cause you're all healed physically doesn't mean everything's better or everything's fixed," Luke tells her.

"I'm okay now," Ava says looking out the side mirror at Abel.

Getting out of the car, Ava walks to him slowly, placing one foot in front of the other until only inches are separating them.

"Hey," Ava says quietly.

"I got the keys to Piney's old cabin again," He tells her with a grin on her face.

"And why do we need a cabin?" Ava asks teasing him as she sits on the passenger seat with her feet dangling outside staring at the guy she loves.

"Movie and dinner. I'm trying to do the boyfriend shit here, okay?" He tells her shaking his head as she starts laughing.

"So what, we just go on living our lives, forgot everything?" She asks him.

"No, we can't forget. What happened to you was never supposed to happen. I can't undo it, but I can make it better, I can make you better. And everything else, that's on me. I can be faithful to you. I want to be, but we need to talk about everything. The club, runs, old lady shit," "He tells her.

"I've been around the club and the people in it for a while to know that it's not conventional and every relationship is different. Couples in this world aren't in normal relationships. What kind of relationship are we going to have, Abel? That's what we need to figure out. And we will figure it out at this cabin you insist on taking us to, " She tells him turning inside the truck and reaching for the seatbelt.

"Yes, ma'am," Abel tells her closing the door and walking to the driver's car with a grin on his face that would make his father proud.

_The End! It's been such a long time since I've started this story, and I'm really comfortable with where I'm ending it. Ava and Abel were my first story ever, and it was time to bring theirs to a close. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and took the time to read, you guys have been great! Maybe thinking of writing a sequel but the storyline will be set in the future. We shall see!_


End file.
